UNews - Matthew Robbins

Physics students shine at CAP annual congress

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 19:55:22 +0000

A pair of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge physics students managed impressive results at the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) annual congress that took place in Edmonton in June. Matthew Robbins (BSc ’15) and Jeremy Scott (BSc ’15) each won second place in their categories for student oral presentation and student poster presentation respectively.

“Both students presented undergraduate research at the national level and managed to beat students, some of which were graduate students, from the country’s largest schools,” says U of L physics and astronomy professor Dr. Locke Spencer. “This speaks very highly both to the quality of the students, and to that of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s physics research programs.”

Jeremy Scott (BSc ’15, left) and Matthew Robbins (BSc ’15) each won second place in their categories for student poster presentation and student oral presentation respectively.

Robbins (a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Undergraduate Student Research Award winner studying under Drs. Saurya Das and Mark Walton) received second place in his division for his oral presentation, Modifications of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle Motivated by Quantum Gravity. He was competing in the Theoretical Physics Division against undergraduate and graduate students across Canada.

“As it is currently not possible to access the natural energy scale of quantum gravity (the Planck scale), it is important to look for low-energy effects,” says Robbins, summarizing his presentation. “One such avenue of approach is by studying the corrections to the Schrödinger equation via the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) proposed in various candidate theories of quantum gravity. After finding the GUP-modified wave function for the simple harmonic oscillator, I then determined a corresponding function (Wigner function) in phase space. The modifications induced by GUP to the simple harmonic oscillator were demonstrated by analyzing the perturbations, the probability distributions for the position and momentum, and the energy levels.”

Robbins plans on pursuing a Master of Science under the guidance of Das and Walton, beginning in Fall 2015.

Scott (also a former NSERC USRA student) began his Master of Science under Spencer in May 2015 and received second place in his category for his poster presentation, Prestellar Cores in the Aquila Rift. He was competing against undergraduate and graduate students from across Canada in the Atmospheric and Space Physics division.

Due to last-minute scheduling problems, Scott also had the opportunity to present a talk on behalf of Spencer about far-infrared astrophysics and the U of L's involvement in this field.

“My poster was comprised of some of the work I did during my last year as an undergraduate student, and it focused on analyzing starless and pre-stellar cores in the Aquila Rift, a region of active star formation,” says Scott. “This work combined photometric data from Herschel (both the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and the Photoconductor Array Camera (PACS) instruments) with high resolution heterodyne spectroscopy of CO emission recorded with the instrumentation suite at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). I generated spectral energy distributions (SEDs) by employing four distinct photometry methods. These SEDs were then fit to a modified black body curve from which important parameters such as dust mass, temperature and emissivity were extracted. The CO emission spectra allowed the determination of the distribution and relative velocity of cold gas in these starless and pre-stellar cores. This work gives insight into the conditions and processes taking place in the early stages of star formation.”

Both Robbins and Scott are delighted to have received this recognition and are excited about the prospects of continuing their research through graduate studies in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:04:26 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was awarded a record $3.9 million of funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) this year, with U of L researchers earning support for projects in neuroscience, biological sciences, psychology, chemistry & biochemistry, physics & astronomy, geography and mathematics & computer science.

This unprecedented level of support was announced earlier today by Canada’s Minister of State (Science and Technology), the Honourable Ed Holder, at a national funding announcement in Oshawa, Ont.

Dr. Robert McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year.

“This latest round of NSERC funding clearly demonstrates the outstanding research our faculty and students are undertaking,” says Interim Vice-President (Research) Dr. Lesley Brown. “That our research portfolio continues to grow as it does is testament to the quality of the work being done and also speaks to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ striking the right balance as a comprehensive teaching and research institution.”

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers receiving NSERC Discovery Grant funding include: Dr. Gerlinde Metz (neuroscience); Dr. Aaron Gruber (neuroscience); Dr. Alice Hontela (biological sciences); Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca (psychology); Dr. David Logue (psychology); Dr. Artur Luczak (neuroscience); Dr. Robert McDonald (neuroscience); Dr. Majid Mohajerani (neuroscience); Dr. Gregory Pyle (biological sciences); Dr. Masami Tatsuno (neuroscience); Dr. Paul Vasey (psychology); Dr. Robert Laird (biological sciences); Dr. René Boeré (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Paul Hayes (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Locke Spencer (physics & astronomy); Dr. Mark Walton (physics & astronomy); Dr. Christopher Hopkinson (geography); Dr. Robert Benkoczi (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Shahadat Hossain (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Habiba Kadiri (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Nathan Ng (mathematics & computer science).

In addition, Drs. John Zhang and Olga Kovalchuk were each awarded NSERC Discovery Development Grants.

Luczak and McDonald will also both receive an additional $120,000 in funds through the Discovery Accelerator Supplements program (over a three-year period), while McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year. He is studying neural circuits and mechanisms of context-specific conditioned inhibition.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s doctoral students were extremely successful in the NSERC Doctoral Scholarship competitions, led by Katie Wilson (chemistry & biochemistry), who was named a Canada Vanier Scholar, demonstrating leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies. Jason Flindall (neuroscience) was awarded a Canadian Doctoral Scholarship, while Kayla Stone (neuroscience), Allonna Harker (neuroscience) and Stefan Lenz (chemistry & biochemistry) were awarded NSERC Postgraduate Doctoral Scholarships. Additionally, five masters students were awarded the NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship, including: Justin Lee (neuroscience), Serena Shandik (neuroscience), Matthew Robbins (physics & astronomy), Rhys Hakstol (chemistry & biochemistry) and Douglas Turnbull (chemistry & biochemistry).

“We are pleased with the amount of money invested in our researchers and what this could yield in terms of the results they will achieve and the benefits their work will bring to society,” adds Brown. “Our continuing success with the federal research funding agencies is testament to our researchers’ ability to compete on the national stage.”

NSERC grants aim to develop, attract and retain the world’s most talented researchers at Canadian universities who are working in a multitude of scientific and engineering disciplines.

Undergraduate student earns prestigious summer school appointment

trevor.kenney — Fri, 23 May 2014 18:03:33 +0000

Matthew Robbins, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate student majoring in physics, is one of only 20 international students selected to attend the Undergraduate School on Experimental Quantum Information Processing (May 26 to June 6, 2014) at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Waterloo.

The summer school is a two-week program based on the theoretical and experimental study of quantum information aimed primarily at students completing their third undergraduate year. Successful applicants were chosen on the basis of an application letter, academic transcripts and reference letters. The program covers all expenses, including accommodation, meals and travel expenses.

The summer school is staffed by the faculty of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), a multidisciplinary research centre at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Waterloo, and an internationally recognized leader in the development of quantum information processors. The two-week program will consist of lectures introducing quantum information theory and experimental approaches to quantum devices, followed by hands-on exploration of Quantum Information Processing (QIP) using the experimental facilities of the institute.

Robbins is currently working with Drs. Mark Walton and Saurya Das, supported by an NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award and the George Ellis Research Scholarship.

UNews - Matthew Robbins

Physics students shine at CAP annual congress

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