Dr. Fereshteh Rajabi is recipient of 2017 CASCA Plaskett Medal
The J.S. Plaskett Medal of the Canadian Astonomical Society (CASCA) is awarded yearly to the very best astronomy PhD thesis in the country.
We are so proud to announce that recent Western graduate Dr. Fereshteh Rajabi is the recipient of the 2017 Plaskett Medal.
Under the supervision of Dr. Martin Houde, Fereshteh did groundbreaking work in her thesis titled, "Dicke's Superradiance in Astrophysics".
The official citation reads as follows,
"CASCA is pleased to announce Dr. Fereshteh Rajabi as the 2017 recipient of the J. S. Plaskett Medal.
Dr. Rajabi completed her doctoral studies at the University of Western Ontario under the supervision of Dr. Martin Houde. Her thesis entitled “Dicke’s Superradiance in Astrophysics” extends the mathematical description of this intriguing physical process to many phenomena of astrophysical interest. Superradiance is a quantum mechanical and coherent behaviour between closely spaced atoms or molecules (i.e., several within a wavelength) that makes them, when certain conditions are met, emit radiation that is much more focused and intense than expected. Dr. Rajabi used superradiance to elegantly explain anomalous fluxes in the 21cm line of hydrogen atom and unexplained maser flares and bursts in the envelopes of evolved stars. She made fundamental physical advances that brought superradiance out of the lab and into an ever more surprising Universe. Her work has attracted worldwide attention not only in astrophysics, but also in the field of quantum optics."
Fereshteh is now the third Western astronomer to be so honoured, following in the footsteps of Grant Hill (1994) and Peter Brown (2001).
