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Welcome back to the academic year and the McDonald Institute Newsletter!
We have many new people joining our community this time of year, so sharing this newsletter with your new colleagues, students, and staff is highly appreciated and helps build a more connected and inclusive network. When sharing the newsletter, please link to our newsletter webpage,or the web version of this newsletter.
Please do not forward this email.
As always, we invite all members of the community to contribute to this newsletter with events, opportunities, HQP highlights, and science updates.
Also, a reminder that September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We recommend checking out what your institutions have planned going on that day and week in recognition, such as this Indigenous Astronomy event at Queen’s on Thursday, September 26th.
Thank you for your ongoing support and engagement with the McDonald Institute.
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The MI-HQPAC (McDonald Institute Highly Qualified Personnel Advisory Committee) needs new members! This volunteer committee is made up of students, postdocs, and early career researchers, engineers, and technicians who are passionate about improving the HQP experience in astroparticle physics in Canada. The Committee meets monthly to discuss and organize initiatives and has a modest operating budget. It is a great way to develop leadership skills and connect with other keen members of our broad national network.
New this year, the Committee is hosting monthly virtual town hall meetings open to all research community members to ask questions and share ideas. These meetings are held on the first Monday of the month. Connection details will be posted on the Advisory Committee website. Have something to share but can’t attend a meeting? Let the committee know through their Community Interest Survey.
Next Town Hall meeting: October 7th
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CASST Award Winners!
Last month, SNOLAB and the McDonald Institute hosted the fourth annual Canadian Astroparticle Summer Student Talk Competition. 44 undergraduate students from all over the world competed by giving short, 10-minute talks on various topics in astroparticle physics. The event also provides professional development opportunities in team building, EDII, and networking. Congratulations to the winners, Gabrielle Barsky-Giles (Queen’s), Joshua Himmens (TRIUMF), Matt Poser (Queen’s), Grace Champagne (Queen’s), and honourable mentions, Kaan Sun (Queen’s University), Justin Suys (University of Ottawa), Katharine Jekic (Queen’s University), and Emma Greenall (Queen’s University).
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Jol Thoms art exhibit at the Miller Museum of Geology | |
Jol Thoms, a Canadian-born, UK-based artist, educator, and sound designer, brings a unique perspective to the intersection of arts and sciences. In 2021, he was one of four artists invited to an art and science residency to visit the Queen’s physics labs, meet with researchers, and travel to Sudbury to visit SNOLAB. Thoms created new artwork for the travelling exhibition DRIFT: Art and Dark Matter, a selection of which is showcased in this exhibit. | |
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SuSi 2024 a Valuable Experience | |
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The SNOLAB Underground Science Institute, SuSi, is an SNOLAB lectureship program designed for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. It provides lecture-driven training and professional development activities to enhance the SNOLAB research experience. The program allows participants the time and freedom to pursue their work while having access to expertise and new ideas. The attendees of SuSi 2024 also had the opportunity to participate in the 2024 Tri-Institute Summer School on Elementary Particles (TRISEP), which was hosted by SNOLAB this year.
Learn more about this exciting new program here.
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SWCC Book Awards: Her Space, Her Time...
Each year, the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada reviews hundreds of new science books and chooses a winner in each of three categories: Youth, Paradigm, and General. The winner of this year’s General Category is “Her Space, Her Time: How Trailblazing Women Scientists Decoded the Hidden Universe” by Shohini Ghose.
The book is an eye-opening account of the incredibly dedicated women who made groundbreaking contributions to physics and how their accomplishments were continuously and systematically underappreciated and attributed to their male colleagues.
Read more about the SWCC Book Awards here.
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Want to win a copy of this book? Share your favourite EDII resource with us through this form and be entered to win!
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McDonald Institute Seminars:
October 3, 2024: Colton Hill (Chiba University)
October 10, 2024: Michael Fedderke (Perimeter Institute)
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GIRLS SyStem Mentorship, call for mentors and mentees
The Girls SySTEM Mentorship Program, founded by Kathryn Hong at Queen's University, has grown to include Chapters in Guelph, Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Niagra, Waterloo, and Vancouver. The program's goal is to provide mentorship opportunities to young women and gender-diverse people pursuing education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
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The program is now seeking both mentors and mentees for the 2024-25 cohort. Please visit the program website for more information.
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New 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.
We hope you find this community resource helpful!
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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.
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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