Greetings,
Firstly, congratulations on making it through another challenging school year! We especially feel for all the first-year students who have not been able to meet their classmates in person yet. Hopefully, you've found ways to connect, and fingers crossed we'll all be on-campus together soon! There are a few items in this newsletter intended to provide ways to stay in contact with the community.
Last month we announced the McDonald Institute HQP Community Discord server. It has been a huge success and there are already over 200 people on the server! It has been a hub of activity, especially this past week as we've been dropping McDonald Institute swag into the EIEIOO channel! The group is open to anyone involved in the Canadian astroparticle physics community and provides a space to ask questions and have discussions about the various aspects of studying, working, and researching in the field. Access the discord here: https://discord.gg/ME4nG84wja
There is a lot going on this month, including a few pressing deadlines, so let's jump in!
We are also drawing to a close on the Third Annual SummEr PartIclE AstrophysIcs WOrkshOp (EIEIOO), there is still a packed lineup of workshops, so head over to the event page and drop in on some of these fantastic introductory sessions: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1027519/timetable/#20210511
Registration to attend the CAP (Canadian Association of Physicists) 2021 Virtual Congress is open until May 24th. Taking place June 6-11. The week will consist of the CAP Herzberg Memorial Lecture, the NSERC community update, and a series of plenary talks, technical sessions/talks, student presentations competition sessions, and several symposia offered by the CAP divisions and its partners.
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Update to the McDonald Institute management team |
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In June 2021, Fouad Elgindy, the current Managing Director of the McDonald Institute will take up the position of Director of Strategic Initiatives at Queen’s University where he will work closely with the university research community in support of large grants like the McDonald Institute. In the interim, Ed Thomas, the current Associate Director of External Relations and myself, will assume the responsibilities previously held by Fouad.
In support of the scientific strategy and management, the McDonald Institute has welcomed the support of Dr. Ken Clark acting in the role of Associate Scientific Director. Ken will be working in his capacity as a Queen’s physics assistant professor to support the McDonald Institute’s scientific strategy as the Institute works to establish itself as a Tier-1 Research Institute at Queen's University on the strength of its 2016 launch as a Canada First Research Excellence Fund Initiative.
On behalf of the community, we would like to welcome Ken to the team, congratulate Fouad on his transition and thank him for his work in launching and sharpening the ongoing operations and strategy of the McDonald Institute since 2017.
Tony Noble
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Dr. Clarence Virtue has been appointed to the position of Interim Executive Director of SNOLAB, effective May 1st, 2021. Clarence’s acceptance of the Executive Director position will give the organization guidance, vision, and stability, while the board works to fill the Executive Director position in the longer term.
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Joe Bramante featured in a WIRED article about how unusually warm planets could indicate the presence of dark matter and how the James Webb Telescope could search for these exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy.
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Congratulations to PhD student, Sharlotte Mkhonto, whose team won third place for the inaugural Frank-Arnott - Next Generation Explorers Award (NGEA) during this year's virtual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) 2021 convention.
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Anne Riley, one of the four artists of the Drift: Art and Dark Matter exhibition has been selected for the long list of nominees for the National Gallery of Canada for the annual Sobey Art Award. Established in 2002, the Sobey Art Award is Canada’s most prestigious contemporary art prize. Anne is in the running with her collaborator T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss.
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Save the Date: Astroparticle Physics Community National Meeting Aug. 25-26 |
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The McDonald Institute reminds career astroparticle physics researchers, fellows and students working in Canada that the Annual National Meeting for our community will be held online over two days. Day 1 sessions will expand on the Advanced Community Planning (Non-Accelerator, Subsurface) effort and Day 2 sessions will address broader issues of the community (trainee development, research sustainment, etc.). RSVPs and detailed agenda will be circulated by email and updated in the June newsletter.
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Join the Monthly Virtual Professional Development CAFÉ
As we settle into our respective rhythms and grooves for the spring/summer semester, we want to stay connected with a monthly Virtual Professional Development CAFÉ! The Virtual CAFÉ series draws together members of the community to enhance professional development learning opportunities!
Here’s what you can expect throughout the summer:
- Access to McDonald Institute staff for questions and assistance.
- Links to professional development opportunities to further your degree or research experience.
- Developing your communication skills in a virtual space.
- Building your Astroparticle Physics research network.
- Meet career counsellors, writing specialists, reference librarians, and other support staff for 1:1 consultation.
Our first Virtual Professional Development CAFÉ will be hosted Wednesday, May 19th, 2021, at 2:30 pm EDT. We invite you to grow your network now by joining the CAFÉ:
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Self-Guided Professional Development and Learning EDII Series
A reminder that the self-guided modules for enhancing your equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenization (EDII) competencies are now available. These opportunities are open to students, staff, and faculty affiliated with the McDonald Institute. We thank our partners at the Human Rights and Equity Office (Queen’s University) for providing this training to the network!
The following opportunities are available:
- Introduction to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
- Power, Bias, and Privilege
- Unconscious Bias
- Conversations on Decolonization
- Navigating Difficult Conversations
- Inclusive and Responsive Teaching
- Call it Out
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Previously Recorded Sessions now available
We have updated the Professional Development and Learning series website to improve navigation and provide access to previously recorded sessions. Further sessions will be added, so be sure to check in with the website in the future!
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Ask Me Anything with Miriam Diamond |
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This Friday, the McDonald Institute will be hosting an Astroparticle Physics Ask Me Anything with Prof. Miriam Diamond from the University of Toronto.
At 1:00 PM EDT on May 14th, Miriam will be answering questions on Reddit at R/Space. Join us with any questions you may have! https://www.reddit.com/r/space/
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Astronomy on Tap Kingston is back! Our next event will be free and online on Thursday, May 20th at 7:00 pm. We welcome all ages! The event will be streamed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hZgLrJrmen8 and feature Space News, exciting trivia, and three fantastic scientists: Akanksha Bij (Queen's), James Fraser (Queen's), and Pietro Giampa (SNOLAB). We'll have lots of time for questions with the audience!
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The McDonald Institute Proof of Concept Seed Fund Pilot Program provides early-stage support for technology innovation supervised by an awardee. Funding of up to $20,000 CAD is currently available to offset the real costs to an eligible astroparticle physics researcher developing an early-stage demonstration of practical technologies either adapted, or transferred from research-driven activities. Funding may be used for a portion, or the entirety of costs incurred for, prototype development, technology integration, or technology demonstration. Once funds for the current pilot are exhausted, the opportunity will close until the next fiscal year (April 2022- March 2023).
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Join the IDEAS Initiative for the 2nd annual Canadian Online Science Fair! This event is open to students in grades 6, 7, and 8, and is free to register. All you need to register is a brief description of your research idea, which can be an experiment, research, or innovation-oriented project. Each participating student will each receive a mentor to help with their project, as well as a budget of up to $50, provided by IDEAS!
Taking place on June 18th, individual students will give a short presentation on their project for a panel of Canadian scientists and engineers. All students will win a prize, and the competition winner will win a new Chromebook!
Registration is open until May 14th!
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The McDonald Institute is once again running its summer science program for both middle and high school students across the country. Please pass along the information below to any students in your network. Note, this year we will be able to accommodate even more students, and have separate streams for younger and older students!
Calling all middle and high school students! Are you keen on physics, astronomy, and the nature of the Universe? Are you interested in learning the scientific skills needed to be a scientist? Come join the McDonald Institute’s Summer of Science starting July 6 to August 12, 2021.
Summer of Science is a free online enrichment program for students inspired by science and physics. Meeting each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, each session features interactive activities in an online community setting.
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SNOLAB Seminar Series
May 17: Dr. Aldo Ianni (INFN-LNGS) High sensitivity characterization of a NaI(Tl) scintillator for dark matter direct search
May 31: Dr Bjoern Lehnert (LBL) KATRIN experiment
SNOLAB Seminars are typically held on Mondays at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. For connection details, please contact Silvia Scorza at Silvia.scorza@snolab.ca.
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2021 Dunlap Institute Virtual Summer School
Applications for the 2021 Dunlap Institute Virtual Summer School are open! The dates for the summer school are July 26-30, 2021, inclusive. The Dunlap Institute’s annual summer school provides a unique introduction to cutting-edge astronomical instrumentation for current and future telescope facilities.
The summer school is aimed toward students who have finished at least the third year of an undergraduate program or are in the early years of a graduate program, and have a background in astronomy, physics or engineering.
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If you missed the Virtual Star Party featuring Anishinaabe Constellations from Science North, you can check out the recorded event on their YouTube channel!
Different cultures have different constellations and stories. Learn about Anishinaabe constellations visible in the spring and see beautiful constellation artwork created by Native Sky Watchers.
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We also made a version of the McDonald Institute hat that works on pets! Thanks, Miriam for modelling this filter on your assistants!
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If you would like to view past newsletters from the McDonald Institute, please visit the: Newsletter Archive.
Do you have some astroparticle physics news or would like to do a write-up on a recent result or publication? Get in touch and we'll make sure that the community gets to hear your story!
The McDonald Institute at Queen’s University is situated in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe & Haudenosaunee First Nations. The Institute is part of a national network of institutions and research centres, which operate in other traditional Indigenous territories. Visit www.whose.land to learn the traditional territories where astroparticle physicists are grateful to live and work across Canada.
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