The 2020 Stoicheff Scholarship was awarded to Matthew Robbins, University of Waterloo, for leadership in developing the theory of Bose-Einstein condensates as a novel detector of gravitational waves that would open a new window on the universe for astronomical observations.
I am excited and honored to receive this scholarship. During my PhD, I have always tried to be a successful researcher and effective advocate for graduate students. Receiving this scholarship tells me that I have achieved my goal and I look forward to continuing my work supporting graduate students in the coming year.
Matthew Robbins is a third-year PhD student at the University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. For his thesis, Matthew is investigating the theoretical physics behind using a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) to detect gravitational waves. The ultimate objective of his research is to understand what experimental configuration(s) and features are necessary in a BEC for it to be used as gravitational waves detector.
Since May 2019, Matthew has represented the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the University-wide Graduate Student Association. In addition, for the past three years, Matthew has also been on the Board of Directors of the Graduate Studies Endowment Fund (GSEF), which is an organization that works to improve the social and academic experience of all graduate students at the University of Waterloo. Since September 2019, Matthew has served as the Coordinator of GSEF, in which he works to enact new ideas to improve the effectiveness of GSEF in its goal to enhance the overall graduate student experience.
Matthew has served on a Canadian Association of Physicist’s working group setting up the terms of reference and operating procedures for a student advisory council and was also part of the Program Committee for the 2019 Canada-America-Mexico graduate student conference.
The Boris P. Stoicheff Memorial Graduate Scholarship was established jointly by the CAP Foundation and the OSA Foundation as a memorial to Boris P. Stoicheff, an eminent, internationally renowned laser spectroscopist who also served as President of the Canadian Association of Physicists (1983-84) and the Optical Society of America (1976). The joint CAPF/OSAF scholarship is awarded to a graduate student who has demonstrated both research excellence and significant service to the optics (OSAF) or physics (CAP) community.