Elisabeth J. Nicol

Education and Employment Background

Dr. Elisabeth Nicol completed her PhD in physics at McMaster University in 1991 (conferred in 1992). She went on to work as a Postdoctoral Fellow at McMaster University and then as a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She joined the Department of Physics at the University of Guelph in 1994, where she is now a full professor. Since joining the Department of Physics she has also been a visiting scientist at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California and an affiliate of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. She also serves as the Fourth Year Undergraduate Coordinator for the University of Guelph’s Department of Physics.

Awards

• Gold Medal, Mount Allison University, 1985
• NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships, McMaster University, 1985-1989
• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1992-1994
• NSERC Women's Faculty Award, University of Guelph, 1994-1999
• John Charles Polanyi Prize in Physics, Province of Ontario, 1994
• Premier's Research Excellence Award, Province of Ontario, 2000-2005
• Cottrell Scholar of Research Corporation, USA, 1997-2002
• McMaster University Alumni Gallery Inductee, 2003

Activities

• Physics Columnist on CBC Radio's "Quirks and Quarks", 1999-2000

Research Focus

My general area of research is theoretical condensed matter physics and quantum materials. I am currently working on topics such as superconductivity and Dirac materials such as graphene.