We hope you had a productive Winter and are looking forward to Spring as much as we are!
The McDonald Institute has some exciting news to share and we're happy to bring you the latest here.
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McDonald Institute thanks Finance Officer Edward Nkole |
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The McDonald Institute met last week to say farewell to its long-serving Finance Officer, Edward Nkole, who recently accepted the role of Senior Planning and Budget Officer – Africa, in University of Toronto’s Office of the Vice-President International. Edward, a chartered professional accountant and certified management accountant, first joined the McDonald Institute in 2017 and has been instrumental in building and managing its budgeting, analysis and reporting systems. He has also built nationwide partnerships with many institutions’ financial managers to smoothly transfer funds awarded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund and account for flexible voucher awards funded through the McDonald Institutes' many competitive funding programs and administrator-operated programs.
“We are deeply thankful for Edward’s contributions over the last several years,” said Scientific Director Tony Noble. “Since 2016, the Institute has been operating a large-scale, complex and adaptable enterprise whose mission is to build the critical mass of academic-based research talent required to keep Canadian-based physicists in leading roles in astroparticle research. Edward owns a large share of our successes thus far and we are indebted to his diligent and patient work in honing our ability to do this so effectively.”
The Institute has worked with its governance and Queen’s Finance to ensure continuity in our financial management while we launch a high-priority search for a new Financial Officer at the Institute. All inquiries to finance@mcdonaldinstitue.ca will be handled through these arrangements during the next two months while the Institute onboards a new Finance Officer.
Edward, who earned a Masters in Public Administration and also completed the Emerging Leaders Program at Queen’s, will be helping the University of Toronto expand training, research and innovation partnerships in Africa, including the financial administration of a major grant of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.
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Upcoming McDonald Institute Census
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The McDonald Institute is releasing the annual Census to community members in early April 2022 for the 2021/2022 fiscal year (April 1, 2021 – March 31, 2022). The goal of the census is primarily to collect required data for our funding agency, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), while reducing the time and burden of the reporting process. The Census is also used to establish baselines and trends that inform financial and programmatic resource allocation -- ultimately, guiding decision-making on how to best support and empower the Canadian astroparticle physics community.
We are asking all levels of staff, faculty, and students who receive, or benefit from, McDonald Institute funding to complete the Census. For members of the broader community, your input is extremely important, and we ask that you also contribute. Please consider encouraging any Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) directly under your supervision to participate as well.
We are working to streamline the reporting process to be as easy and less time-consuming as possible. Thank you in advance for your participation!
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McDonald Institute CFREF LOI |
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For the past five years, the McDonald Institute has worked to grow the Canadian astroparticle physics research ecosystem and increase its capacity for world-leading science. This has been accomplished with great success with the support of the second-round CFREF grant awarded in 2016 and the Institute will conclude this mandate in 2024. With a robust and diverse community at the ready, the third-round CFREF application proposes an entirely new mandate that can advance upstream research development and also help secure and facilitate a new, multinational, large-scale “flagship” experiment in Canada by 2030.
The McDonald Institute will be holding information sessions in the next month with more details about the LOI, to solicit input, develop partnerships, and to answer any questions from the community. If you would like to be included in this ongoing discussion, please join the LOI Development mailing list by clicking here.
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2022 Highly Qualified Personnel Advisory Committee (HQPAC)
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Following the nominations of the 2022 Advisory Committee, the official 2022 HQPAC member list has been confirmed.
This year’s committee will consist of six HQP from across Canada, at various academic levels, recommended by members of the astroparticle physics community. The committee will provide input into the investments and program development for the HQP community through experience and peer recommendations. Simultaneously, the HQPAC looks to connect network members to the wide range of opportunities available to them.
The 2022 HQPAC committee members are:
- Melissa Baiocchi - Undergraduate / Co-op Student, McMaster
- Rhea Gaur - Doctoral Student, TRIUMF
- Christopher Chambers - Postdoctoral Researcher, McGill University
- Sean Daugherty - Postdoctoral Researcher, SNOLAB/Carleton
- Ryan Kaufmann - Masters Student, UBC
- Hector Hawley Herrera - Doctoral Student, Queen’s
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DRIFT: Art and Dark Matter at Carleton University Art Gallery! |
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The recording of The virtual Science Café held on February 10th is now available! The event featured a conversation with dark matter researchers Dr. Simon Viel, Gurpreet Kaur and Drift artist Jol Thoms. View the video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49kaQt3rTk
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CUAG has produced an Audio Description tour for visitors who are blind or who have low vision. The prototype audio tour is available here:
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Drift: Art and Dark Matter exhibition is now open and will be on display until April 3rd.
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SNOLAB 10 year anniversary |
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2022 marks the tenth anniversary of SNOLAB’s grand opening in 2012. SNOLAB is celebrating this milestone by reflecting back on a decade of achievements and looking forward to the next ten years of excellence in deep underground science.
SNOLAB will be sharing content and hosting events throughout this year, and highlighting individuals who were instrumental in the development of SNOLAB. Follow along with #SNOLAB10 to see all the stories, photos, and interactive pieces. Check this landing page regularly to stay up to date on stories, events, and media coverage of SNOLAB’s ten year celebration:
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Two Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology (IBET) PhD Fellowship with the McDonald Institute at Queen’s University |
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Announced in January 2021, the IBET PhD Project aims to address the urgent need to encourage and support the pursuit of graduate studies by under-represented groups in Canada that have been ignored as potential candidates for academia. This lack of representation has hindered the enrolment of Canadian Indigenous and Black graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. IBET recipients will receive funding support and a Momentum Fellowship which includes access to industry partnerships and additional networking opportunities. Access to mentorship and community support will also be an integral component of the program.
IBET Fellowship with the McDonald Institute will be based at Queen’s University. Fellows receive $30,000/year ($25,000 from the McDonald Institute and Faculty of Arts and Science, and a minimum contribution of $5,000/year from the host supervisor at Queen’s).
Ideal candidates are open to learning new techniques and must be motivated to solve problems in an interdisciplinary framework and collaboration setting. By the start date of the position, candidates should possess a PhD in physics or engineering with specialization in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, astroparticle physics or equivalent. A successful PDF candidate will be an expert in experimental particle physics, detector instrumentation, and data evaluation as demonstrated by their PhD research and any relevant subsequent appointments. Academic career interruptions for relevant work experience or personal obligations will also be taken into consideration. Experience with hardware installations, physics analysis, exposure to low background techniques, and/or research experience in these areas through previous PDF appointments or work experience is considered an asset.
If you have questions about the opportunity, or know of someone who may be qualified to apply, please reach out to Alexandra Pedersen (alexandra.pedersen@mcdonaldinstitute.ca) for further information. This search will be ongoing until the positions are filled.
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Congratulations! Bubble Technology Industries (BTI) Inducted Into the US Space Technology Hall of Fame. |
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A unique technology developed and produced by a small Canadian company has been selected for induction into the prestigious US Space Technology Hall of Fame. Bubble Technology Industries (BTI) produces a small device for measuring neutron radiation, called the “bubble detector”. For over 30 years, the bubble detector has been used to protect people on Earth and astronauts in space from harmful effects of radiation and to support innovative research in medicine, physics, and space science.
This international honour for the bubble detector and its positive global impact comes after the technology has been deployed on over two dozen space missions through the Canadian Space Agency to assess radiation risks in space. Measurements on the International Space Station have been conducted by numerous astronauts, including Canadians Robert Thirsk, Chris Hadfield, and most recently David Saint-Jacques. In parallel, thousands of bubble detectors have been used on Earth to monitor radiation in hospitals, nuclear power plants, manufacturing facilities, and nuclear-powered submarines. Bubble detectors were also used to protect emergency responders after the nuclear accidents in 1986 at the Chernobyl site in Ukraine and in 2011 at the Fukushima site in Japan.
Dr. Martin Smith, the head of research at BTI, added, “We could not have sustained this long-running presence in space without the key support we’ve had from the Canadian Space Agency and other government partners. This is a team achievement in the truest sense”.
Congratulations to our collaborators at Bubble Technology Industries for this fantastic achievement! For more information, read the full press release here: https://bubbletech.ca/company/news/
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The McDonald Institute and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives at Queen’s University Presents: Red Sky Performance’s Trace production at the Isabel Bader on Monday, March 28th, 2022.
We are traceable to the very beginnings of the universe, our ancestral origins stretching across the Milky Way to the atoms burning inside of us in the ‘here and now’ on earth. Trace is a highly kinetic contemporary dance work inspired by Indigenous (Anishinaabe) sky and star stories, offering a glimpse into our origin as well as our future evolution.
Winner of two Dora Mavor Moore Awards and nominated for four Dora Awards.
This Two-Eyed Seeing Astronomy event will have the audience embrace learning “to see from one eye with the best in the Indigenous ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the best in the Western ways of knowing, and learning to use both these eyes together for the benefit of all.” (Elder Dr. Albert Marshall). Following the performance, we will feature a brief discussion by both Western and Indigenous astronomers speaking to different ways of knowing and understanding about the skies above. Speakers are Queen’s University Professor Dave Hanes, and Melanie Demers, Kanyen’kehá:ka from Six Nations.
This event's ticket pricing has a sliding scale pay structure; please feel free to pay what you can according to your means.
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Astronomy on Tap recording:
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The recording of the March 3rd event is now available on the McDonald Institute YouTube channel. The event features will feature Space News, exciting trivia, and three fantastic scientists: Alvine Kamaha (UCLA), Arnaud Michel (Queen's), and Stéphane Courteau (Queen’s).
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TeVPA 2022 will take place in person at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, August 8-12 2022. TeVPA is a major international conference bringing together expertise around the terascale including cosmic rays, cosmology, dark matter, galactic and extragalactic sources, gamma rays, neutrinos and multimessenger physics.
Visit the conference website to submit an abstract:
Registration and payment will become available soon.
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GRIDS2022
The Graduate Instrumentation and Detector School (GRIDS) will be held at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada from June 13-24th after a two-year hiatus. GRIDS is aimed at graduate students for whom particle and radiation detection play a key role in their work, and who would like to gain hands-on experience with detectors and associated instrumentation technology. The school introduces practical aspects of detection principles and operations in nuclear, particle, and astroparticle physics as well as in nuclear medicine, such that participants achieve a working knowledge of the origin of data produced by commonly employed detector systems.
The school includes two days of plenary lectures from world-renowned experts in the field, and eight days of hands-on experience setting up and running various experiments that will develop laboratory skills, including safety, problem-solving, teamwork, and more.
Plenary Speakers:
Dr. Viktor Zacek (Université de Montréal)
Dr. Claude Leroy (Université de Montréal)
Dr. Karoline Schäffner (Max Planck Institute for Physics)
Dr. Kimberly Palladino (University of Oxford)
Dr. Etiennette Auffray (CERN)
Dr. Daniela Bortoletto (University Oxford)
Dr. Daniel Santos (LPSC)
Dr. Kate Pachal (TRIUMF)
Dr. Pia Loaiza (LAL)
Dr. Stefan Ritt (Paul Scherrer Institut)
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TRISEP 2022 | TRIUMF | BC | Canada |
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The 2022 Tri-Institute Summer School on Elementary Particles (TRISEP) will be held from July 4-15, 2022 and hosted by TRIUMF. TRISEP is an international, graduate level summer school on particle physics organized jointly by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, SNOLAB, Canada’s deep underground physics lab, and TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre.
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Professional Development Opportunities (PDO) with the McDonald Institute
Academic Mentorship: A Beginner's Guide – March 16th, 2022
Mentorship is a crucial part of professional development, yet we rarely have conversations about how to do it well. In this workshop we will reflect on the qualities that make someone an effective mentor and discuss strategies to cultivate these qualities in ourselves (for mentors), or to identify them in others (for mentees). We will also cover tools for building and maintaining a strong mentoring relationship and talk about what we can do together to cultivate a community where everyone has access to high-quality mentorship.
Speaker information:
Sarah Dawson (workshop lead) completed her PhD in computational soft condensed matter (squishy) physics at McMaster University in December 2021. During her PhD she wrote code to model the properties of polymers, and also taught and mentored new physics students. She joined the McDonald Institute as a coordinator for the (Un)Hacking Downstream Consequences Event, for which she developed and delivered a mentor-training workshop and provided support to the mentors.
Terry Bridges (workshop assistant) is currently in his 6th year as a professor at Okanagan College in Kelowna, BC, where he teaches first- and second-year physics and astronomy courses. Terry has PhDs in Astrophysics and Education from Queen’s University and has previously worked as a research astronomer in the UK, Australia, and Canada, and as a high school physics teacher in Ontario and Istanbul. Terry recently supported the McDonald Institute's (Un)Hacking Downstream Consequences event with Sarah as a co-facilitator team.
Video Editing 101 with Blender – March 20th, 2022
In today's world, having the ability to make asynchronous video content for various purposes is essential. Want to record a talk? Make an outreach video? Make a cool animation of your data? Become a YouTube superstar? Then you'll need to know how to edit video files. In this informal presentation/demonstration I will show you how the free software "Blender" can be used for standard video editing tasks to quickly get decent results. By the end of the session you should feel comfortable making basic edits, and be knowledgeable enough to google the rest.
Speaker Information:
Connor Stone is a PhD candidate in Physics at Queen's University, specializing in Astrophysics. Connor is the Queen's Observatory Coordinator, co-leads the Fast Radio Bursts podcast, and organizes various professional opportunities for his fellow students.
We look forward to your participation in our upcoming PDO sessions. Stay tuned for more updates and additional PDO sessions to be added!
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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!
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Explore opportunities in astroparticle physics! |
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The Careers in Astroparticle Physics website features jobs, research positions, and other career-building opportunities in the field in a highly discoverable way. Prospective and current students can easily find current postings to take their careers to the next step, or just to keep them inspired and optimistic about their future.
View the Careers website at: https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/app-opportunities/
We hope you find this community resource helpful!
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SNOLAB Senior Communications Officer
The position works to manage all aspects of the SNOLAB image and is responsible for managing the communications risks and opportunities. The Senior Communications Officer is tasked with managing the flow of information both internally and externally. The position works closely with the Education and Outreach Officer to divide public engagement and is tasked with the management of community affairs, public outreach, coordination of community groups, and the dissemination of science related information.
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The McDonald Institute is hiring for a Finance Officer
Canadian Astroparticle Physics Institute at Queen’s University is seeking a Financial Officer who will administer the finances of a vibrant international academic research network. The Institute is building on a Nobel prize winning research program to determine the properties of the most fundamental particles of nature and their role in the structure and evolution of the Universe.
Reporting to the Managing Director, the Financial Officer is responsible for providing expert advice, financial accountability, and management of all McDonald Institute grant funds. This role provides an exceptional opportunity for a financial professional to engage in all aspects of university research finance, from strategic planning and resourcing, project management, design and improvement of operations and monitoring processes and relationship management across multiple institutions. This role will regularly engage with the Institute’s governance, including senior financial managers from universities across Canada. It is an ideal position for broadening demonstrated financial expertise into broader administrative leadership skills and career progression into management roles. The Financial Officer will perform a wide range of complex financial duties in the analysis, preparation and maintenance of financial records and reports; provide oversight and stewardship of the McDonald Institute’s financial control systems; and work closely with funding agencies, Research Accounting, Strategic Procurement Services, University Research Services (URS), the Faculties, and partner institutions across Canada and internationally.
The McDonald Institute administrative team cultivates an inclusive working environment. Staff are nimble, collaborative, and work closely together to support the national Astroparticle physics community. The Institute supports moderate flexible time scheduling, caregiver and accessibility assistance when attending work-related conferences, and employee-selected professional development that aligns with the Institute’s mandate. The Institute’s administrative team received the 2019 Queen’s University Special Recognition Staff Award (Team category) for their service and outstanding capabilities.
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Connect with the community:
Do you have a recent result or publication that you would like shared with the Canadian Astroparticle Physics network and beyond? Send your work to CJ (kts@mcdonaldinstitute.ca) to have it featured in our Science News series!
Science News is intended for students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and research associates actively working in astroparticle physics to quickly digest updates and progress in areas that are not directly connected to their specific project(s).
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.
Thank you for your support. If you would like to view past newsletters from the McDonald Institute, please visit the: Newsletter Archive.
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