Activities
I am a Full Professor at Western, and am active in research and teaching with an emphasis on astrophysics. I have served Western in many administrative capacities, most recently for the faculty union UWOFA and in the university Senate. I am always actively involved in internationalization activities. I maintain strong ties with the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, where I was a Senior Visiting Fellow in a recent year. From 2010 to 2015, I was Department Chair of a large unit with 30 faculty members, about 20 department and research staff, and about 80 graduate students. I enjoyed the opportunity to stake out a plan and move toward important institutional goals. That time period in the Department saw a significant expansion of both personnel and facilities; it was an exciting time. As a researcher, an important part of my job is to travel to other institutions and to conferences in order to present my work and share ideas. I've given invited talks at many international conferences and organized several conferences and winter schools of my own. Our work is published in high-impact astrophysical journals and we have been featured in the media and in press releases. Information on some of these are found in the menu bar for Activities.
Professional Activities
- Chair, Organizing Committee, Astrowin series of winter schools, 2016 - 2020
- Member, UWOFA Equity Committee, 2018 -
- Member, Western Senate, 2018 - 2020
- Senior Visiting Fellow, CITA, Fall 2016
- Chair, Western Physics and Astronomy, 2010 - 2015
- Director, Western Theoretical Physics Program, 2008-2010
- Member, Canadian Astronomical Society,
Awards Committee Chair, 2002-2003 - Member, American Astronomical Society
- Member, International Astronomical Union
- Chair, Scientific Organizing Committee, Magnetic Fields:
Cloud Cores to Young Stellar Objects, May 2010 - Chair, Scientific Organizing Committee, From
Protostellar Disks to Planetary Systems, May 2006