I’m thrilled to introduce you, our departmental alumni, to our first Alumni Newsletter. I am an astrophysicist by trade. Serving as chair of the department for the past 1.9 years has been deeply satisfying and challenging. I have had the opportunity to meet many of you and to hear what you are up to. Whether it's research on string theory or the markets, internet banking, teaching, or founding a startup, I’m amazed at the breadth of accomplishment you have all enjoyed. All of what you do with a physics degree. Physics is a way of thinking, a way of being. It was the great physicist Robert Oppenheimer who in a letter to his brother Frank said, “to physics and the obvious excellent of the life it brings.” You can go anywhere and do anything you can imagine with a physics degree.
The department has grown dramatically since most of you graduated. Including students, faculty, adjunct faculty, postdocs, and research scientists, the department is more than 1000 strong.In September I had the pleasure to welcome over 250 new majors. Whether you are interested in building a quantum computer, imaging the shadow of a massive black hole, using machine learning to understand exotic states of matter, or detecting the onset of Alzheimers disease using a retinal scan, you can do it at Waterloo.
This year alone Physics & Astronomy graduate students were awarded five of six prestigious Vanier graduate fellowships awarded to the University. Co-op student Emily Pass won the Faculty, Provincial, and National Co-op of the year awards, the Co-op “triple crown” for developing an analysis program that detects Kuiper Belt objects beyond Neptune. Faculty member Ray Laflamme was honoured with the Order of Canada for his pioneering work in quantum computing and for co-founding Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing. Professor Will Percival, an internationally renowned cosmologist joined us as the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Distinguished Chair in Astrophysics. I can go on. And then the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to our own Donna Strickland for co-inventing chirped pulse laser amplification. We’ve been celebrating since the announcement last month, and just asthis issue was going to press. We will update you with a full spread on Donna’s remarkable achievements and the upcoming events in Stockholm in the Spring 2019 newsletter.
While we’ve been focused on building an exciting atmosphere for physics here at Waterloo, we have done a poor job keeping you in the loop. That’s changing. I will be reaching out to you in the near future to ask for your help and for your advice. We have lots to do and we can’t do it without you.
Enjoy the newsletter, keep up with us on social media, stay in touch, and know that the department will always be your home away from home.
With warm regards,
Brian McNamara
University Research Chair & Chair
Department of Physics & Astronomy
