Spring 2015 Newsletter

Physics & Astronomy

Department

Department of Physics & Astronomy

TRENT UNIVERSITY

1600 WEST BANK DRIVE

PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO

K9J 7B8

Meatball

Sub

Lunch

Physics

BBQ

Pie (π) Day

Physics and Astronomy Department Newsletter Spring 2015

Visit us at http://www.trentu.ca/physics

Alumni News

Send us your update –physics@trentu.ca

Pavel Eremin (‘14) is working with Brian Longergan (‘04) at WIND Mobile as a Marketing Analytics Specialist.Wendy (Thompson) VanDrunen (’09, Joint Physics Biology major) received her Masters from the Environment and Life Sciences Graduate Program at Trent University in 2012 and is currently an NSERC CGS Ph.D. student at the University of Guelph.Matt Vandermeulen (‘14) is supply teaching (elementary and high school) at a reserve in Deschambault Lake, Saskatchewan.Julian Atfield is working at AECL since one year after graduating. AECL has ‘stood-up’ a new company – the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) – and most employees were transferred to this company.

Brad Simpson (’11) is moving to Thailand in March of 2015 to teach and has plans to travel to Vietnam and Bali along the way. Michael Tessier (‘12) is currently working as an associate with Northwater Capital Management Inc. Joseph Kennedy (‘13) is studying Computer Engineering at Fleming College (3 year program). Taylor Stock (‘03) and Charlotte were married March 2014. Taylor defended his Ph.D. in April –Materials Science & Engineering Title “Organic Molecular Thin Films: Growth, Structure, and Manipulation by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy”. He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at Jun.

Physics and Astronomy Department Newsletter Spring 2015

Visit us at http://www.trentu.ca/physics

Bill Atkinson, B.Sc. (Queen’s), M.Sc. (U. Alberta), Ph.D. (McMaster) Graduate Student CoordinatorResearch Interests: Computational /theoretical models of high temperature superconductors & strongly correlated electrons

Peter Dawson, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Trent), Ph.D. (Victoria)Research Interests: Stellar populations and galactic structure

Ralph Shiell (pronounced "Rayf"), B.A. (Oxford), Ph.D. (Newcastle).Department Chair.Research Interests: Atomic, molecular and optical physics, the manipulation of quantum states using laser light

Rachel Wortis, B.Sc. (Harvard), M.Sc., Ph.D. (Illinois)Research Interests: Condensed matter theory: superconductivity and strongly correlated electrons, high temperature superconductors

Keep in touch on Facebook!There is a Physics & Astronomy alumni group on Facebook! Join the group “Trent U. Physics Alumni”, stay informed about Trent Physics events and information and keep in touch with past schoolmates.

David Patton, B. Math (Waterloo), Ph.D. (Victoria)Research Interests: Observational astronomy: galaxy evolution, galaxy mergers

Suresh Narine, B.Sc. (Trent), M.Sc. AMINSS (Trent), Ph.D. (Guelph) Director, Trent Biomaterials Research ProgramResearch interests: Materials Science, Organic and Organo-metallic modification of natural lipids, Physics and Chemistry of Biomaterials, Physics of Crystallization and Phase Change

Aaron Slepkov, B.Sc. (Brock),M.Sc. and Ph.D. (Alberta)Canada Research Chair in Physics of BiomaterialsResearch Interests: Nonlinear Photonics, imaging of biomaterials.

Dave Marshall, Sr. Demonstrator Gina Collins, Admin

For more information on Physics and Astronomy, be sure to visit www.trentu.ca/physics or contact: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON., K9J 7B8705 · 748-1011 x 7715, physics@trentu.ca

Physics and Astronomy Department Newsletter Spring 2015

Visit us at http://www.trentu.ca/physics

Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) LectureThe CAP was held on March 11th, 2015. The speaker was Professor Melanie Campbell from the University of Waterloo. Her topic was “Through the Optics of the Eye to a Window on the Brain”. Faculty, staff and students enjoyed a buffet dinner with our guest speaker.

Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CCUWiP) 2015 – by Emily Korfanty (also attended by AmnaBasit)This year, the conference was held on January 9-11 by the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Université Laval in Québec City. Just over 100 female Undergraduate Physics students from across Canada (and one male student as well – this conferences is NOT for women only; it is merely the theme of the conference), gathered to learn about future career opportunities and current research in various fields of Physics. Successful women in Physics gave presentations about the paths they took during and after their University educations which lead to their present careers, including academia and research, marketing and management of development affairs in the industry, and medical physics work within hospitals. Research presentations included topics such as spiral galaxies and stellar populations (Dr. CarmelleRobert, Université Laval) and quantum information and metrology applications of solid-state spins (Dr. Lilian Childress, McGill University). Students were able to ask questions of experienced women in Physics and benefit from their unsolicited advice in the career, Undergraduate research, and Graduate studies panels, as well as share their own research with their peers through presentations and posters. The University Grad Fair and laboratory tours (Center of Optics, Photonics and Lasers) helped students to get a better sense of which career paths may best suit their individual interests. Similar to CUPC, the Women’s Conference was a time for networking, seeking advice, and sharing experiences.

NSERC USRA’s: Congrats to Steven Ufkes working with Bill Atkinson, Alan Godfrey with Aaron Slepkov, James Godfrey with Ralph Shiell, and Patrick Daley from McMaster with Rachel Wortis this summer.

Lodge Scholarship 2013/2014Yr 1 – Jeet Trivedi, Yr 2 – Steven Ufkes , Yr 3 – Eamonn Corrigan

Johnson Prize – Quantum Mechanics 2013/2014Michael Becker

Breukelaar Prize 2013-2014 –Joel Fifield.

Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Prize 2013/2014 – Hamza Khattak

Physics Club EventsThe Physics club had yet another successful and busy year. Events of the year included:

- Oct. 16: Physics BBQ- Nov. 17: Dr. Who Marathon- Month of November: Assassin

Game (where every player is an assassin with a specific target they have to go after. Meanwhile, someone is targeting them, with the last person standing becoming the winner).

- Month of December: Jelly Bean contest

- March 3: Meatball Sub Lunch- March ??: Pie (π) Day

Physics department T-shirts and sweatshirts were also made available for sale for students this year. In addition, we had eleven students attend the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference at Queen’s University in Kingston. The students attended sessions about current physics research, careers with a physics degree, and graduate school. This year was the 50th anniversary of the CUPC.

CAP ExamCongratulations to Duncan MacDonald who wrote the exam in February. Duncan receives a $25. gift card to the Trent bookstore.

Annual Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference (CUPC)The 51st Annual CUPC will be hosted by Trent University on October 22-25, 2015.