News
Research Experience Awards
January, 2026 – In recognition of the fact that talented Black, Indigenous, and racialized students may encounter systemic (historical, social, and/or environmental) barriers to full and fair access to opportunities in physics education and research, our department has established The Physics & Astronomy Research Experience Award.
This awards supports undergraduate students who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or racialized by providing a fully funded summer research position with a department faculty member. A list of available projects and application instructions can be found here, and the application form can be found here. Applications are due February 2, 2026.
Community members who wish to support this initiative can also donate to the Research Experience Award fund to help sustain and expand these opportunities, by following this link.
Winter Undergraduate Student Research Awards for Black and Indigenous Scholars
March, 2025 – The McMaster Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Initiative is an integrated network of academics and professionals in science and engineering fields. Together, they aim to support, celebrate and advocate for diversity & equity. The mentorship program consists of a series of informal “coffee chats”, in which this year will be conducted in a virtual manner. Each individual listed here not only WISE, but also very approachable and willing to help you reach your academic and life goals!
at McMaster University and in our surrounding community
Winter Undergraduate Student Research Awards for Black and Indigenous Scholars
December, 2024 – Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRAs) are meant to nurture interest and fully develop the potential of undergraduate students for a research career in health, natural sciences, engineering, social sciences or humanities. These awards are also meant to encourage undergraduate students to undertake graduate studies by providing research work experience that complements their studies in an academic setting. You are permitted to hold a USRA during a co-op placement.
USRAs have a value of $6,000. The duration of the award is 14 to 16 weeks on a full-time basis (35 hrs/wk, e.g. co-op placement) over the winter term. At the present time, Winter 2025 NSERC USRAs are available to student researchers at McMaster who self-identify as Black and/or Indigenous on the application form, while Winter 2025 CIHR and SSHRC USRAs are exclusively for student researchers who self-identify as Black on the application form.
Applications are due Dec 15th. Eligibility and other details can be found here: Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRAs)
Call for Student Representatives for the CAP Division on Gender Equity in Physics (DGEP)
January, 2024 – The Division of Gender Equity in Physics (DGEP) is looking for an undergraduate and a graduate student representative to join its executive committee. DGEP is a division within the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) aimed at promoting the inclusion of and elevating members of gender minorities in physics. The division participates in organizing sessions and panel discussions that encourage physicists from gender minorities, proposing speakers from underrepresented groups for CAP Congress plenary talks, and organizing delegations to attend conferences for gender minorities in physics.
Eligibility:
- You must be registered as a student at a university in Canada at the time of nomination (domestic and international students are welcome to apply).
- You must be a DGEP student member or join the CAP and become a member of DGEP. Please note that CAP undergraduate membership (called affiliateship), as well as the first year of membership for graduate students, is free. If you already are a CAP student member, joining DGEP is free (no additional fee). Please email membership@cap.ca to add the DGEP divisional membership to your account.
- Holding a student representative position requires attending and participating in DGEP meetings to share thoughts on DGEP initiatives and some email communication with the rest of the executive
If you are interested, please self-nominate by emailing rebellocm@torontomu.ca with a short bio (~150 words or less) as soon as feasible (within the next couple of months). Please clearly specify whether you are an undergraduate student or a graduate student. Please also encourage interested classmates/students to join DGEP and help us improve equity in physics in Canada. (Again, membership is free for all undergraduates and first-year graduate students.)
Lastly, save the date for the next DGEP meeting on Friday, March 8 (tentatively 11am Eastern Time).
Call for Applications to the ‘Advancing EDII Fund for Astroparticle Physics’
January, 2024 – Aligned with the McDonald Institute’s strategy for building equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization (EDII) capacity within the discipline, the Advancing EDII Fund for Astroparticle Physics aims to financially support community building and strengthening efforts in physics training and research environments across Canada. This program is open to undergraduate, graduate, postdoc, staff, research scientists, and faculty, with some additional eligibility considerations for faculty members. For full announcement: click here. Round 1 Advancing EDII closes March 15th, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET. To submit an application, the application form and the budget form should be sent as one document to admin@mcdonaldinstitute.ca with “MI Advancing EDII Fund – [Applicant’s Last name]” as the subject line.
Student Success stories
June, 2023 – Here are a few student success stories from their summer 2022 research positions:
Celine Greis (Mitacs award)
From Celine: I modelled the effects of Ram Pressure on the clumpy molecular gas of ten Virgo Cluster Galaxies. My supervisors provided excellent support throughout the project, creating a valuable environment to ask questions, thrive and explore the wonders of the Universe and the beauty of galaxies. What started as a summer project evolved into the wish to stay at McMaster as a graduate student.
Godefroy Bichon (Mitacs award)
From Godefroy: I studied the results of simulations about how star clusters evolve following different initial parameters. I got the data generated by the simulations described by EMP-Pathfinder, and I had to explore what they could tell us about star clusters behaviour. We mainly focused on how initial sizes influence their evolution, and which are the main mechanisms that disrupt clusters following how dense they are. For an example we found that denser clusters resist better tidal shocks but suffer more from evaporation.
I really appreciated the contact I had with my two main interlocutors, Marta the post-doc I was working with and Alison my supervisor who helped us to search about clusters. I was totally part of the team and it was really pleasant to work in a true collaboration. I also liked a lot discovering something totally new as star clusters were for me, and the good explanations I had during the first weeks really helped me to understand my job. In a nutshell, my team was great and it was a pleasant and interesting adventure!
Kyle Batschkun (Research Experience Award)
From Kyle: For my summer research project, I worked along side Christine Wilson and Jiayi Sun studying the M95 galaxy. Specifically, I used telescope images of M95 from ALMA, and identified and analyzed suspected star forming regions. The images were taken with two different bands, 93 GHz and 350 GHz. I used both of these to extract different information from each suspected star forming region. Finally, I created plots of the gathered information and compared my results to similar analyses performed on other galaxies by different researchers.
Astronomy has always been of great interest to me, so I enjoyed learning about how the astronomy research process works and really enjoyed getting to be a part of it. I also enjoyed getting to work closely with Christine, Jiayi, and Christine’s graduate students.
Anonymous (Research Experience Award)
From anonymous: My time doing research showed me a lot of new things. My research was about using code to model a Bose-Einstein Condensate in a double-well potential. It was suggested to analyze the system as an oscillating pendulum as the equations of motion were quite similar. I then used Mathematica to try to model the system of the particles quantum tunneling from one well to the other. Seeing the inner workings of how scientists use mathematical models to simulate things in Nature filled me with a burning desire to hone my skills. I also got to interact with professors, Masters and PHD students that have given me valuable advice on my path in physics.
Research Experience Awards
Jan, 2023 – The Department of Physics and Astronomy recognizes that talented Black and Indigenous students encounter systemic (e.g. historical, social, and/or environmental) barriers to full and fair access, representation, opportunities, and resources with respect to physics education and higher learning. Students who self-identify as Black, Indeginous, and/or racialized are encouraged to apply for this prestigious award to work a fully-funded summer position with a professor on a research project. A list of available projects and how to apply can be found here . Applications are due February 14th, 2023
EDI Committee Newsletter, July 2022
July, 2022 – We are excited to publish the EDI Committee Newsletter 2022 where we highlight the progress that has been made in the past year. We also share goals and announce the faculty membership for the upcoming year.
EDI Committee Newsletter, July 2021
July 13, 2021 – We are excited to publish the EDI Committee Newsletter 2021 where we highlight the progress that has been made in the past year. We also share goals and announce the faculty membership for the upcoming year.
Physics & Astronomy Research Experience Award
May 12, 2021 – McMaster Daily News reports on the newly established Physics & Astronomy Research Experience Award, created to support undergraduate Faculty of Science students who identify as Black, Indigenous and/or racialized, and have an interest in research. Students will be paid a stipend to work alongside department researchers beginning in May 2022. To learn more about and to contribute to the fund, click the button below.
Executive Summary Of EDI Survey 2020
March 22, 2021 – Last December the department’s Equity Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) committee undertook a survey of the department to help us to prioritize proposed EDI initiatives and to obtain feedback from department members. The results of the survey can be found here: Resource: Executive Summary of EDI Survey 2020