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We hope you’ve had a wonderful fall and are enjoying this year’s especially spectacular autumn colours! It’s been a busy season for us here at the McDonald Institute, and there’s lots were working on and are excited to share with you soon! We have some excellent events coming up, and some great community updates, including the summary of the McDonald Institute Annual Community Meeting.
Would you like to be more involved in the research community? We invite motivated students and early career researchers to participate in the McDonald Institute Highly Qualified Personnel Advisory Committee (HQPAC). The committee meets regularly to discuss issues and strategize long-term goals for ways to enhance the experience of everyone in astroparticle physics. Reach out to Zac Kenny at communications@mcdonaldinstitute.ca for more information.
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As part of the internationally recognized Dark Matter Day, come out to our evening event on Nov 4th, being held by the McDonald Institute, the Queen’s Observatory, and the Queen’s Physics Department. We’ll have a fascinating talk by Professor Aaron Vincent about using the sun as a giant dark matter detector. We’ll also host various activities and demonstrations, including tours of the Queen’s Observatory.
Feel free to dress up, as we’ll also have candy, a costume contest, and free giveaways!
https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/events/dark-side-of-the-sun/
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Dark Matter High School Workshop - Nov 4
A collection of scientists and educators at the McDonald Institute at Queen’s University are running a free afternoon workshop for high school students covering the essence of science, the astronomical evidence of dark matter, and how particle detectors led to our current understanding of the Standard Model. We will then dive deep underground to take a close look at SNOLAB where detectors are looking for dark matter. We’ll conclude with a tour of the Institute’s visitor centre and labs and then invite guests to stay for some free pizza and ask questions of our scientists.
https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/events/high-school-dark-matter-workshop/
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein - Nov 9 | |
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Prof. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is giving two talks at Queen’s University on November 9th. Originally from East L.A., Dr. Prescod-Weinstein is a graduate of Harvard College, University of California — Santa Cruz, and the University of Waterloo. She is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Hampshire where she is a theorist in particle physics, cosmology, and astrophysics with an emphasis on dark matter. Her Nov. 9 physics talk: “Cosmic Probes of the Dark Sector” will motivate the 2020’s focus on astrophysics and cosmology for determining what exactly dark matter is comprised of. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein’s talk will focus most especially on questions relating to large-scale structure and axion-like particle models, as well as on asymmetric dark matter in neutron stars as valuable exemplars of interesting work that is underway.
Physics Colloquium: Cosmic Probes of the Dark Sector
9 November 2023: 11:30 am - 12.30 pm
Chernoff Hall 117, Queen’s University
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In addition to Dr. Prescod-Weinstein’s work as a physics professor at UNH, she is also a core faculty member in women’s and gender studies. One of fewer than 100 Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics, she is also a regularly published theorist of Black feminist science, technology, and society studies, and a monthly columnist for New Scientist. A cofounder of Particles for Justice, she received the 2017 LGBT+ Physicists Acknowledgement of Excellence Award for her contributions to improving conditions for marginalized people in physics and the 2021 American Physical Society Edward A. Bouchet Award for her contributions to particle cosmology. Her research and advocacy for marginalized people in physics and astronomy have won multiple awards, and her first book, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein urges us to recognize how science, like most fields, is rife with racism, misogyny, and other forms of oppression. She lays out a bold new approach to science and society, beginning with the belief that we all have a fundamental right to know and love the night sky. The Disordered Cosmos dreams into existence a world that allows everyone to experience and understand the wonders of the universe.
Homo Narrans: Through the Looking Glass of Dark Matter
9 November 2023: 3.30pm-5.30pm
Humphrey Hall Auditorium
Registration Form
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Thank you, Greg Ridge, and Welcome Nicholas, Tracey, and Paola!
We owe a big thank you to Greg Ridge, who moved on from his position as Finance Officer to focus on his political career as City Councilor in Kingston. Greg ran the McDonald Institute Finance Office from July 2022 to June 2023. His work was always consistent, and he led the initiative to increase the capacity of the office through the hiring of two financial assistants; Tracey McCourt and Paola Dantonio. Tracey and Paola kept the books in order this summer and helped on-board our new Finance Officer, Nicholas Grona, who started this August.
For our partners working with the McDonald Institute Finance Office, please continue to use the finance@mcdonaldinstitute.ca email address for invoicing and financial inquiries.
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SuperCDMS Update:
The first of the four SuperCDMS detector towers now in CUTE and cooled to the target temperature of 15 milliKelvin, meaning SuperCDMS is now in a position to take physics data.
The tower will be tested in CUTE for ~ 3 months which marks a big step towards a fully operational SuperCDMS experiment at SNOLAB. Though it is a long way from completion, getting to this point has been a significant achievement.
The final two detector towers are expected to be shipped from SLAC to SNOLAB in November.
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Honours for Dr. Alvine Kamaha | |
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Prof. Alvine Kamaha, the Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Chair in Physics Sciences at UCLA, has been named the recipient of the 2024 Edward A. Bouchet Award recognizing a distinguished minority physicist who has made significant contributions to physics research and the advancement of underrepresented minority scientists. Dr. Kamaha is an alumna of the PICASSO collaboration and PhD graduate of Queen’s Dept. of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy. The award will financially support a travelling lectureship for Prof. Kamaha to speak about her current work as a key contributor to the LUX-ZEPLIN collaboration.
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SNOLAB’s Blaire Flynn: Woman of Distinction | |
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SNOLAB’s Education & Outreach Senior officer Blaire Flynn has been celebrated as one of the Sudbury YWCA's Women of Distinction 2023 for the category of science, engineering, technology, and trades. Blaire was recognized for her leadership in Sudbury and across Canada creating space for women and equity-seeking groups to develop their science communications skills and participate in mentorship and networking activities. In a field where women and diverse people are underrepresented, Blaire takes pride in helping people believe in themselves by creating opportunities for them to explore science and technology in a safe, welcoming, and encouraging way. Read more about Blaire's incredible contributions to the science communication community here: https://www.snolab.ca/news/ywca-sudbury-to-recognize-snolabs-blaire-flynn/
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McDonald Institute Community Meeting Recap:
The McDonald Institute’s annual National Community Meeting August 8-10, drew nearly 100 researchers from across the country.
A summary of the proceedings is available, and technical presentations are posted to the meeting’s Indico page.
Early Aug. 8, arrivals took part in an afternoon session on communication and networking, highlighting how open problem-sharing generates high-impact networking opportunities. In the evening, invited guests from the Wabaan Nang Collective led participants in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, which uses kinesthetic participation to teach the history of settler-colonialism in Canada from an Indigenous perspective. The exercise elicited conversations about how the impacts of settler-colonialism, residential school abuses, and other anti-Indigenous policies have directly affected our community on personal, professional and ethical levels.
Over the following two days, a comprehensive overview of astroparticle physics experiments and theory project updates were given by leaders in the community. The speakers have provided summaries of these talks and are available here with additional links to presentation materials.
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A series of presentations and panels under the theme of “Tasks for the Next Decade of Astroparticle Physics” provided perspectives on the strategic positioning of the field and the community within Canada. Tony Noble gave an update on the McDonald Institute and the concerted initiatives to pursue additional ongoing funding. Other panels discussed the challenges of sustaining long-term, large-scale projects within existing science-granting frameworks in Canada and the urgent need for the government to recognize and address this. The McDonald Institute has been instrumental in building research excellence capacity in Canada, which has focused on developing a large community of inter-connected, highly skilled researchers with a motivation to collaborate and support. The Institute’s goals are now focused on sustaining Canada’s critical mass of academic researchers, by providing engineering resources, early research career acceleration, and other supports.
Summary of proceedings
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McDonald Institute HQP Advisory Committee Call for Members
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The McDonald Institute Highly Qualified Personnel Advisory Committee (HQPAC) is looking for new 2023-24 committee members.
The committee's goal is to act as the voice of the student and early career researcher community and provide the McDonald Institute with guidance regarding goals, challenges, and where resources and support are needed most. The Committee is provided a small fund through the Institute to support program development and, in the past, has produced such community initiatives as MINTERACT and the Community Art Challenge.
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Image created with the assistance of AI (Midjourney v5) | |
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CAPSS 2024 Announcement - Save The Date
The Canadian Astroparticle Physics Summer School (CAPSS) is a free week-long undergraduate school that will introduce students to the current topics in the field of astroparticle physics. The school is held at Queen’s University and then underground at SNOLAB. CAPSS is expected to be held May 5 - May 11, 2024. The application period closes on Feb 9, so check out this link for more information: https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/capss/capss-info/.
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GRIDS/TSI 2024 - Save the Date! | |
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GRIDS 2024 Announcement - Save The Date
The Graduate Instrumentation and Detector School (GRIDS) is a two-week summer school started in 2018 for graduate students and new post-docs in nuclear, particle, and astroparticle physics to get hands-on training with the detector and instrumentation technology used in modern experiments. It is aimed primarily for those students and postdocs with limited experience with experimental hardware. GRIDS 2024 will be held June 3rd - 14th, 2024. The application period will open soon and close in late February 2024. More information can be found here: grids.trumf.ca.
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EWAN Lecture was a huge success!
The McDonald Institute was honoured to host Dr. James Peebles for a George and Maureen Ewan Memorial Lecture in September, and we were thrilled to welcome nearly 400 guests to the lecture, filling the beautiful Isabel Bader Theatre to capacity.
Guests enjoyed demos and presentations from Queen’s University student researchers and representatives from the Queen’s Observatory. They took in a selection of photographs from the Queen’s Art of Research exhibit. They were also among the first to see printed copies of Danika Watson’s zine that she produced for the knowledge mobilization component of the Cross-Disciplinary Internship she completed in the Summer.
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Dr. Peebles gave an inspiring talk about the “expanding universe” and attended to an enthusiastic audience full of questions, giving detailed answers to each one.
Thank you Dr. Peebles for joining us!
We’re looking forward to the next Ewan Lecture this Winter. Speaker and dates TBC.
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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/all-opportunities/
We hope you find this community resource helpful!
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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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