News - Trottier Space Institute at McGill

2022 Award Recipients

Oct 21, 2022, McGill Association of Postdoctoral Researchers

MSI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Kristen Dage has won the 2022 Mentorship Award from the McGill Association of Postdoctoral Fellows. Dr. Dage has supervised many trainees, including at least nine undergraduate and one graduate student since 2018. Her mentees attest that she is an outstanding and thoughtful mentor, who has designed and supervised numerous trainee projects. An exemplary aspect of her mentoring approach is that she helps students develop explicit road-maps for projects, so that they have specific deliverables and milestones in mind when performing their work.

Call For Applications: MSI Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022

Oct 5, 2022, MSI

We are currently accepting applications for MSI Postdoctoral Fellowships. See job posting for full details. Deadline: 01-Dec-2022.

Claudia Mitchell, Victoria Kaspi honoured by the World Cultural Council

Sep 20, 2022, McGill Reporter

MSI Director Vicky Kaspi is the 2022 winner of the “Albert Einstein” World Award of Science, from the World Cultural Council. The prize is awarded in recognition of her fundamental contributions to our understanding of the most extreme form of stars known in our universe the “magnetars”, neutron stars having the highest magnetic fields known in the Universe.

Three McGill professors receive Royal Society of Canada medals

Sep 13, 2022, McGill Reporter

MSI Professor Daryl Haggard was awarded the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics for her pioneering studies of neutron stars and black holes. She has played a leading role in two recent, ground-breaking discoveries that have captivated scientists and the public in Canada and around the world: the first direct image of a supermassive black hole with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), and the first detection of electromagnetic radiation from a neutron star merger detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave and Virgo Observatories (LIGO-Virgo). Professor Haggard has also worked extensively to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the physics, astronomy, and astrophysics communities. She has served on national committees for equity in STEM both in Canada and the US, including the American Astronomical Society’s Women in Astronomy Committee and the Canadian Astronomical Society’s Equity and Inclusivity Committee.

Fifteen McGill researchers and scholars honoured by the Royal Society of Canada

Sep 6, 2022, McGill Newsroom

MSI professor Nicolas Cowan was inducted to the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars. RSC Fellows and Members are peer-elected and meet the criteria of having made, “remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities, the sciences, and Canadian public life.” Fellowship in the RSC is one of the highest honours in the Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences. The Members of the College are Canadians who, at an early stage in their career, have demonstrated a high level of achievement.

McGill’s EDI champions feted in style – and in person

May 19, 2022, McGill Reporter

MSI Coordinator Carolina Cruz-Vinaccia was awarded the 2022 McGill Award for Equity & Community Building (Staff Category), which recognizes the work of students, faculty and staff committed to advancing equity and diversity at McGill. Carolina was recognized for her work creating spaces for discussion in the MSI and Physics Department, setting the groundwork to create a more inclusive department; assessing and addressing areas of under representation at the MSI; and fostering a sense of community. This award recognizes

Astronomers reveal first image of the black hole at the heart of our galaxy

May 12, 2022, McGill Newsroom

McGill University researchers Prof. Daryl Haggard and Hope Boyce part of the global effort to unlock clues left by black holes. Astronomers have unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. This result provides overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed a black hole and yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants, which are thought to reside at the centre of most galaxies. The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.

Eve Lee Awarded 2022 Annie Jump Cannon Award

Feb 24, 2022, AAS Newsroom

MSI Professor Eve J. Lee has been awarded the 2022 Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy from the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for her illuminating work on the formation of stars, debris disks, and planets. The Award’s selection committee pronounced that “Dr. Lee’s piercing insight, curiosity, and ability to distill complex processes into key concepts have enabled her to make pioneering strides in understanding the formation of planetary systems.” The Annie Jump Cannon Award recognizes outstanding research and promise for future research by a female researcher within five years after earning her PhD.

Call for Applications: MSI Summer Undergrad Research Awards 2022

Jan 17, 2022, MSI

We are currently accepting applications for 2022 MSI Summer Undergraduate Research Awards. Deadline to apply: Feb. 24, 2022. See announcement for full details.

New insights into seasons on a planet outside our solar system

Jan 13, 2022, McGill Newsroom

Research team led by MSI grad student Lisa Dang provides new insight into what seasons looks like on a planet outside our solar system. The researchers also suggest that the oval orbit, extremely high surface temperatures (2,000 degrees C- hot enough to vaporize rock) and “puffiness” of XO-3b reveal traces of the planet’s history. The findings will potentially advance both the scientific understanding of how exoplanets form and evolve and give some context for planets in our own solar system.