Welcome to Physics & Astronomy

2018 was a year for the ages. We had a fire in June but we fully recovered. We hired Will Percival, the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Distinguished Chair in Astrophysics, to direct the new Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics. Five of our graduate students received Vanier awards, and undergraduate Emily Pass won the triple crown in Co-Op undergraduate astrophysics. I had the pleasure of attending the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm to share the joy of Donna Strickland’s Physics prize.
2018 will be hard to beat, but 2019 holds great promise as the concepts for our new Physics research wing and the Science Centre for Innovation are moving to completion.
Last month I had the pleasure to present Faculty of Science Distinguished Alumni Awards to Dr. Rob Myers of Perimeter Institute and Dr. George Pinho of Christie Digital. Two weeks later, Rob was appointed Director of Perimeter Institute. This is an exciting time to be a part of Waterloo Physics.
For those of you considering physics as a way of life, please take a close look at our programs. Rob and George represent the level of achievement you can expect of yourself with a Waterloo physics degree. Come and share in the excitement of doing physics at Waterloo: a great department at a great university, located in a great community that lives and breathes physics.

Come to Waterloo!

Brian McNamara, Chair

The Physics & Astronomy department encourages an inclusive, tolerant, respectful, and diverse, intellectual environment