News

Eric Poisson was appointed as a member of the Editorial Board of the prestigious physics journal Physical Review Letters for a three-year term ending on October 31, 2012. He will serve as Divisional Associate Editor for Astrophysics.

Innes MacKenzie is the beloved patriarch of the Department of Physics. As Chair, Innes single-handedly founded the Department in its modern incarnation back in the late nineteen sixties, and the culture that he put in place at that time is still with us today. For the Department, the coffee room is the place that most closely symbolizes this culture: it is where we come together to eat, drink, discuss, exchange, and poke fun at one another. It is most fitting, therefore, that the coffee room will now be known as the I.K. MacKenzie Interaction Room.

The City of Kitchener has commissioned from the well known Canadian artist Allan Mackay a large art installation suitable for the redevelopment of Speaker's Corner at the intersection of King and Frederick streets. The central feature of the installation is a large cylindrical-mirror anamorphosis. This optical design of this portion was carried out by Prof. Jim Hunt using the mathematical formalism worked out by Prof. Bernie Nickel. It consists of a stainless steel cylinder 3/4 of a metre in diameter and 1m high.

Congratulations to Professor Joanne O'Meara, who just received a Special Merit Award from the Faculty Association. The award was handed out yesterday, during a lovely reception hosted at the University Club. During her short speech, Joanne thanked Ernie McFarland for preparing the nomination, and the entire Department for nurturing her efforts to improve Physics education. This award is a tremendous source of pride for the Department.

Joanne was selected for the award in recognition of her impressive contributions to University teaching.