Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Renée Hložek, an associate professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded the Royal Society of Canada's Rutherford Memorial Medal.

The annual award recognizes researchers in the early stages of their careers in chemistry or physics. It is presented in memory of Ernest Rutherford, a scientist and a leader in nuclear research who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908.

Hložek's research involves advancing our understanding of the universe’s structure, origin and evolution. She is a member of the recently decommissioned Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration, as well as the active Simons Observatory in northern Chile, where she studies the Cosmic Microwave Background – light from the universe when it was approximately 400,000 years old. She is also investigating dark matter and dark energy through her work with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Large Synoptic Survey Telescope dark energy science collaboration.

“[The medal] was something that I wanted, but not something that I ever really expected to get because there are so many great people in Canada, so I’m kind of shocked – but pleased,” says Hložek.

“I work in big teams, so my work represents a ton of people working together. I wouldn't be here without the support of all the people in my collaborations building instruments and figuring out how to do analysis and all of that good stuff.”

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story

Read about the Royal Society of Canada award winners

FAS

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Maria Drout awarded Newton Lacy Pierce Prize

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:45:22 +0000

Maria Drout awarded Newton Lacy Pierce Prize

Research & Innovation

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 01/17/2024 - 13:45

Faculty

St. George

David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Faculty of Arts & Science

landscape

Assistant Professor Maria Drout (supplied image)

Maria Drout, an assistant professor at the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, has been awarded the 2024 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize by the American Astronomical Society.

The prize is awarded annually to an astronomer under the age of 36 for outstanding achievement in observational astronomical research based on measurements of radiation from an astronomical object.

Drout, who is an associate at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, was part of the first team to see a source of gravitational waves in visible light, created by two merging neutron stars in a galaxy 130 million light-years away. More recently, she helped uncover the first-known population of helium stars stripped in binaries, developing a new survey in the ultraviolet spectrum to find them.

Drout said the accolade is a “huge honour,” noting that it’s especially meaningful because it recognizes a time in her career that was deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I started my faculty position in 2018, so I had just a year and a half before the pandemic hit,” Drout said. “Then we had to figure out how to make the research group work almost entirely remotely for a couple of years, both in terms of access to telescopes and even just how students worked with me and worked with each other. It was very difficult to navigate.”

Read the Dunlap Institute story

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Canadian collaboration including U of T astronomers wins Berkeley prize

lanthierj — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 21:58:18 +0000

Canadian collaboration including U of T astronomers wins Berkeley prize

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Mon, 11/22/2021 - 16:58

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Faculty of Arts & Science

landscape

(Photo by Andre Renard )

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment fast radio burst (CHIME/FRB) team will receive the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) 2022 Lancelot M. Berkeley − New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy.

The CHIME/FRB team is being honoured for its progress on fast radio bursts – brief and powerful flashes of radio waves with enigmatic origins – using observations from the CHIME radio telescope. The team is being recognized in particular for an article published in Nature that identified the first known fast radio burst within our own galaxy and tied this flash to its potential source, a known magnetar – a highly magnetized and dense remnant of a massive star.

Paul Scholz, a Dunlap-NSERC Fellow with the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, was a lead author on the paper. In January, Scholz will accept the prize on behalf of the team, along with Victoria Kaspi, professor of astronomy at McGill University and CHIME/FRB principal investigator.

“It’s an honour to be recognized for this work by the AAS,” Scholz says. “It's taken a large team years of work to get here, and I’m proud of what we've accomplished.”

Co-led by the ��Ƶ, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the CHIME/FRB team is hosted by the National Research Council of Canada, with collaborating institutions across North America and contributions of dozens of scientists.

“CHIME was unconventional in so many ways,” says Ue-Li Pen, a professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and a member of the CHIME/FRB team. “Canada provided a unique opportunity for a new, bold idea which has now confirmed us as international leaders.”

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story

Arts & Science

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Renée Hložek wins McLean Award

lanthierj — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 16:52:12 +0000

Renée Hložek wins McLean Award

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Tue, 10/12/2021 - 12:52

Faculty

St. George

David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Faculty of Arts & Science

McLean Award

landscape

(Photo courtesy of Renée Hložek)

Renée Hložek of the Faculty of Arts & Science is this year’s winner of the McLean Award which recognizes an emerging research leader at the ��Ƶ.

An assistant professor with the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Hložek studies problems in theoretical and observational astronomy, seeking to better understand the composition and structure of the universe and how it changes with time.

“I spend so much of my time working on results, dreaming of new science, and often debugging code,” Hložek said. “Normally that is its own reward, but it’s really incredible to be recognized for some of the work I’ve done and the scientific risks I’ve taken.”

Jointly funded by the Connaught Fund and the McLean endowment, the $125,000 award supports outstanding basic research in computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering sciences and statistics – and assists the awardee in attracting and supporting graduate students and post-doctoral fellows of great promise.

It’s the latest in a series of honours for Hložek. In 2020, she was awarded a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship and earlier this year she was awarded the Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal by the Canadian Astronomical Society.

“Renée Hložek’s research is already having a significant impact on our understanding of the universe,” said Professor Leah Cowen, U of T’s associate vice-president, research. “Her work with the Simons Observatory collaboration will help us better understand the impact of the Big Bang and her work with the Rubin Observatory Dark Energy Science Collaboration will help unravel some of the mysteries of cosmic acceleration.”

“The university congratulates her on this important recognition of her accomplishments and leadership.”

Read the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics story

Faculty of Arts & Science

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

CHIME wins Governor General's Innovation Award

lanthierj — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 15:26:07 +0000

CHIME wins Governor General's Innovation Award

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Wed, 07/29/2020 - 11:26

Faculty

Students

St. George

David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

landscape

Many members of the CHIME collaboration stand in front of the telescope in 2019, at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton, British Columbia. (photo by Andre Renard)

The team behind the Canadian-based radio telescope CHIME (the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) has been awarded the fifth annual Governor General’s Innovation Award.

The award recognizes Canadians who have “developed new or better ways of creating value and who are having a meaningful impact on our quality of life.”

The CHIME team includes almost two dozen scientists and students from the ��Ƶ, drawn from the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), along with scientists from across Canada and internationally.

“The U of T astronomers on the team have played an incredibly important role in the project, and we’re all so proud to have them as our colleagues,” said Professor Roberto Abraham, department chair.

Since it began taking data in 2017, CHIME has made diverse discoveries on fast radio bursts and cosmology.

“It’s exciting to work on CHIME, to be part of the team as different surveys come together and turn on,” said Associate Professor Keith Vanderlinde, CHIME co-investigator. “The instrument has showed itself a revolutionary tool for studying the cosmos, and we’re thrilled to receive this award.”

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story

UTC

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Renée Hložek awarded Sloan Research Fellowship

lanthierj — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:10:32 +0000

Renée Hložek awarded Sloan Research Fellowship

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Wed, 02/12/2020 - 11:10

Faculty

St. George

Faculty of Arts & Science

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Women in STEM

landscape

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Renée Hložek, an assistant professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship for 2020.

Sloan Research Fellowships recognize extraordinary early career researchers at U.S. and Canadian institutions who set high standards for achievement, creativity and leadership. Hložek will receive USD $75,000 over a two-year period to support her fundamental research.

Hložek aims to better understand how the early, chaotic universe expanded and evolved into the universe of stars and galaxies we see today. She is also investigating two of the most puzzling elements that make up the universe: dark matter and dark energy – the enigmatic energy thought to explain the accelerating expansion of the cosmos.

“I genuinely keep pinching myself,” says Hložek. “I am so pleased to receive an award that for me signifies new and innovative research. I admire previous award winners and I'm honoured to be among them. This award will enable me to support people in my team to take on new challenges in observational cosmology.”

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story

UTC

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Three U of T researchers recognized with Sloan Research Fellowships

lanthierj — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 14:54:23 +0000

Three U of T researchers recognized with Sloan Research Fellowships

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Wed, 02/12/2020 - 09:54

Faculty

St. George

Sloan Research Fellowships

Faculty of Arts & Science

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Department of Mathematics

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Women in STEM

landscape

Renée Hložek, Ila Varma and Chelsea Rochman are the recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships for 2020

Three ��Ƶ researchers – all from the from the Faculty of Arts & Science – have been awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships for 2020.

Renée Hložek, an assistant professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Chelsea Rochman, an assistant professor at the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Ila Varma, an assistant professor at the department of mathematics will each receive USD $75,000 over a two-year period to stimulate their fundamental research.

“We are very proud of these wonderful researchers who have achieved such exemplary work so early in their careers,” says Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty. “They have demonstrated both the exceptional level of research being done within disciplines, as well as the diversity of scholarship throughout the Faculty. It’s wonderful to see them join the ranks of our distinguished U of T Sloan Fellows.”

Awarded since 1955, Sloan Research Fellowships recognize extraordinary early career researchers at U.S. and Canadian institutions who set high standards for achievement, creativity and leadership.

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story

UTC

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Two early-career researchers named CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

s.anderson — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 15:29:31 +0000

Two early-career researchers named CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

Research & Innovation

s.anderson Thu, 09/05/2019 - 11:29

Faculty

St. George

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Faculty of Medicine

Immunology

Biochemistry

Faculty of Arts & Science

Women in STEM

landscape

Jean Philippe Julien (left) and Renée Hložek (photos by Perry King)

Two ��Ƶ faculty members have been named 2019-2021 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars, an award recognizing early-career researchers on their way to becoming research leaders.

Renée Hložek, an assistant professor of astrophysics at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Jean-Philippe Julien, an assistant professor in the departments of biochemistry and immunology at the Faculty of Medicine and a scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, have received a two-year term in a CIFAR research program and $100,000 in support of their research.

The award, a professional skills development program, also provides mentorship from a senior researcher and skills training.

Read the U of T News story

UTC

Top Story (Hub page)

Off

Astronomer Bryan Gaensler wins Canadian Astronomical Society award

perry.king — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Astronomer Bryan Gaensler wins Canadian Astronomical Society award

Research & Innovation

perry.king Fri, 06/28/2019 - 00:00

Faculty

St. George

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Community

landscape

(photo courtesy of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics)

Bryan Gaensler, the director of the ��Ƶ’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, has been honoured with the 2019 Peter G. Martin Award for Mid-Career Achievement by the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA).

The annual award recognizes Canadian astronomers or astronomers working in Canada who have made significant contributions to astronomical research. Winners are usually within 10 to 20 years of receiving their PhD.

Gaensler is a leading expert in cosmic magnetism, supernova explosions and interstellar gas. He has produced more than 360 publications with 16,000 citations.

CASCA named Gaensler the winner at the organization’s annual general meeting at McGill University on June 19.

Read the U of T News story

UTC

Top Story (Hub page)

Off