Rituparna Kanungo, Chair of the Liaison Committee
(term ends June 2021)
Dr. Kanungo is a Professor of Physics at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, with prior work experience in Japan and Germany. Her research area is in experimental subatomic physics, with a specialization in reaction spectroscopy of rare isotopes. She is an active researcher at TRIUMF, where she has been leading CFI projects for facilities aimed for such experiments. In addition, she has research programs in other international facilities, namely GSI in Germany, RIKEN in Japan and NSCL in USA that build on strong international collaborations. She has authored many peer reviewed research articles. Her research expertise is recognized through a number of invited talks among which is the honorable invitation to speak at the Nobel Symposium. She has been the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and the GSI Exotic Nuclei Community award. She was also awarded the NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement and, in 2018, the CAP-TRIUMF Vogt Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Subatomic Physics. She hosted and chaired the international conference DREB 2016 in Halifax. She is currently the President of the Canadian Institute of Nuclear Physics and the Chair of the CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee. She has also served on the Policy and Planning Advisory Committee of TRIUMF.
Sanjeev Sehara, Theoretical and Mathematical Physics
(term ends June 2022)
Martin Connors, Near-Earth and Space Physics
(term ends 2023)
Brigitte Vachon, Subatomic Physics
(term ends 2023)
Luc Beaulieu, Biomedical and Biological Physics
(term ends 2022)
Alexander Moewes, Quantum and Soft Condensed Matter Physics
(term ends 2023)
Alexander Moewes is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics and a Canada Research Chair at the University of Saskatchewan. He is also leading the inelastic scattering endstation of the REIXS beamline at the Canadian Light Source. He obtained his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics 1995 at the University of Hamburg in Germany at HASYLAB/DESY. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Tulane University and was an assistant professor at Louisiana State University before moving to Canada for his current position. He has published over 270 peer reviewed scientific articles and guided over 35 graduate students. His research lies in Materials Science and Condensed Matter Physics using synchrotron-based soft X-ray spectroscopy techniques and density functional theory. His group currently is focusing on materials for spinelectronic applications, low dimensional systems, and semiconductors for pc-LED materials for lighting applications.
Joseph Thywiessen, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Optics and Lasers, and Plasmas
(term ends 2023)
Alison Sills, Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
(term ends 2023)
Dr. Alison Sills studies weird stars in unusual places. The stars that interest her have had a strange encounter during their life, such as a collision with another star or an interaction with their binary companion. These events happen more often in dense stellar clusters. Dr Sills uses a variety of computational tools to model the formation and evolution of these clusters and their stellar populations. Dr Sills attended the University of Western Ontario for her BSc before obtaining her PhD at Yale University. After postdoctoral positions at The Ohio State University and the University of Leicester in the UK, she returned to Ontario to take up a faculty position at McMaster University in 2001. A full professor at McMaster since 2012, she has also served as Associate Dean of Science and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. Dr Sills is involved in the astronomical community at the national and international level, through her membership in Canadian Astronomical Society committees, the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics council, SuperChair of the Canadian Telescope Time Allocation Committee, and an International Astronomical Union steering committee. She has reviewed grant, scholarship, and telescope time applications for granting agencies in many countries, and been involved with organization of over 25 international conferences since 2000. Dr Sills also spends time on outreach activities to bring astronomy to the public, to support women in STEM, and to bring scientists to elementary schools.
EX OFFICIO MEMBERS
NSERC REPRESENTATIVES
Emily Diepenveen, Team Leader, overseeing the Physics and Computer Science portfolio within the Mathematical, Environmental and Physical Sciences Division of NSERC’s Research Grants and Scholarships Directorate
Elizabeth Boston, Director of NSERC’s Mathematical, Environmental and Physical Division within the Research Grants and Scholarships Directorate
Philip Bale, Program Officer, Research Grants, Physics and Computer Science
Ed Irving, Manager, College and Community Innovation program, Research Partnerships Directorate, Colleges, Commercialization, and Portfolio Planning
Kari Dalnoki-Veress, Chair of NSERC’s Physics Evaluation Group
CAP REPRESENTATIVES
Ubi Wichoski, Director of Academic Affairs, Canadian Association of Physicists
Francine Ford, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Physicists
AMO REPRESENTATIVES
Joseph Thywiessen – joseph.thywissen@utoronto.ca
SPACE REPRESENTATIVES
Martin Connors — martinc@athabascau.ca