Colloquia and Seminars 2021-22
Colloquia, seminar and other talks from previous academic years are listed in our archive.
Colloquia are held weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year (September through to April). They are geared at a general audience—faculty, staff, students and interested members of the general public are welcome.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 colloquia may have been held in-person and/or online (via Zoom).
PAST COLLOQUIA
Wednesday, April 6
Dr. David Hertzog, University of Washington
"First Results - and afterthoughts - from the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment"
Wednesday, March 30
Dr. Sajeev John, University of Toronto
"Photonic Crystal Light Trapping for Next Generation Solar Energy Harvesting"
Wednesday, March 23
Dr. Seyda Ipek, Carleton University
“Rewriting Our (Cosmological) History”
Wednesday, March 16
Dr. Megan Donahue, Michigan State University
“Baryon Cycles in The Biggest Galaxies”
Wednesday, March 9
Dr. Roxanne Guenette, Harvard University
“Neutrinos: From Zeros to Heroes?”
Wednesday, March 2
Dr. Frank van den Bosch, Yale University
“New Insight into Cosmology and the Galaxy-Halo Connection from Non-Linear Scales”
Wednesday, February 16
Dr. René Doyon, Université de Montréal
“Detecting and Characterizing Nearby Habitable Worlds”
Wednesday, February 9
Dr. Kevin Hewitt, Dalhousie University
“Analyzer System and Method for Real-Time Synchronous Detection of the Characteristic Near-Infrared Wavelength Features of Optically Active Substances”
Wednesday, February 2
Dr. Tim Brandt, UCSB
"Discovering, Weighing, and Characterizing Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs"
Wednesday, January 26
Dr. Bradley Sherrill, FRIB
"Scientific Opportunities with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams"
Wednesday, January 19
Dr. Anna Grassellino, Fermilab
"Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) - a new DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center"
Wednesday, January 12
Dr. Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University
"Time to take the 'Big Bang' out of the Big Bang Theory?"
Wednesday, December 1
Dr. Sara Seager, MIT
"Exoplanets and the Search for Atmospheric Biosignature Gases"
Wednesday, November 24
Dr. Michael Balogh, University of Waterloo
"The Rise and Fall of Galaxies in a Hostile Universe"
Wednesday, November 17
Anastasia Smolina, University of Toronto & Dr. Kevin Hewitt, Dalhousie University
“The First Canada-Wide Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Physics Survey, including findings specific to the University of Victoria”
Wednesday, November 3
Dr. Emily Heath, Carleton University
“Modeling and compensating for patient anatomical changes in radiation therapy”
Wednesday, October 27
Dr. Ania Kwiatkowski, TRIUMF
“Precision experiments in nuclear and atomic physics”
Wednesday, October 20
Dr. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, UCSC
“Cosmic alchemy in the era of gravitational wave astronomy”
Wednesday, October 13
Dr. Anton Wallner, HZDR (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf) & Australian National University
“Nearby supernovae and the r-process – interstellar Fe-60 and Pu-244 in deep-sea archives”
Wednesday, October 6
Dr. Juan Miguel Arrazola, Xanadu
“Photonic quantum computing at Xanadu”
Wednesday, September 29
Dr. Kendall Mahn, MSU
“Neutrinos: the unknown, the unexpected and the future”
Wednesday, September 22
Dr. Monika Stachura, TRIUMF
“Little-known ways to apply nuclear physics to chemistry and medicine”
Wednesday, September 15
Dr. Michael Prouza, FZU (The Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
“How to detect the most energetic particles in the Universe?”
Wednesday, September 8
Dr. Dorian Gangloff, University of Cambridge
“Quantum information technologies with solid-state artificial atoms”
Seminars are specialized and geared for those in a particular field. Dates and times for these talks vary.
PAST SEMINARS
Tuesday, August 9
Dr. Brendan Whelan, University of Sydney
"Optimization of Laziness"
Thursday, April 14
Emilio Nanni, TRIUMF
"The Cool Copper Collider: An Advanced Concept for a Future Higgs Factory"
Wednesyda, April 6
Dr. Nicholas Rodd, CERN
"Looking Beyond Dark Matter in Axion Haloscopes"
Thursday, March 3
Dr. Frank van den Bosch, Yale University
“Dynamical Friction, Core Stalling & Dynamical Buoyancy”
Wednesday, February 16
Dr. Matheus Hostert, Perimeter Institute & University of Minnesota
“From Mini to Micro: zooming in on new physics interpretations of the MiniBooNE excess at the MicroBooNE experiment”
Tuesday, February 15
Dr. Danika MacDonell, University of Victoria
“Search for Dark Matter Produced in Proton-Proton Collisions with the ATLAS Detector”
Wednesday, December 15
Dr. Simon Blouin, University of Victoria
"Not so simple after all: White dwarf evolution in the era of Gaia"
Friday, October 22
Dr. Alan McConnachie, NRC Herzberg
“Astronomy Technology Development, Opportunities and Collaboration at the Herzberg Research Center”
Thursday, October 21
Dr. Andreas Karch, UT Austin
"Exploring continuum quantum field theories of fracton order”
The Café Scientifique series is an informal series of talks given in a relaxed setting such as a café. These talks are designed to engage the public in learning about recent research in science. Given by experts in the field, these talks provide an opportunity to stimulate discussion around some of the most exciting topics in modern science.
For more information about past or upcoming events: https://www.uvic.ca/science/donors/outreach/cafe-scientifique/index.php
PAST Café Scientifique TALKS
Dr. John Burke, University of Victoria: "The future of drug discovery" (May 17, 2022)
Dr. Heather Buckley, University of Victoria: "Greener Solutions to Safe Drinking Water Challenges" (May 10, 2022)
Dr. Jennifer Wladichuk, University of Victoria: "How I became a killer whale researcher: Stories from a marine biologist" (April 19, 2022)
Dr. Jason Colby, University of Victoria: "How the 'Killer' became the 'Orca'" (April 12, 2022)
Dr. Makhsud Saidaminov, Department of Chemistry: “Next-generation solar cells” (March 8, 2022)
Kelly Knights & Michael Peirone, Victoria Hand Project: "A Helping Hand to Those in Need—Improving the World with 3D Printing" (November 16, 2021)
Dr. Stephanie Willerth, Biomedical Engineering: "3D printing human tissues" (November 9, 2021)
Dr. Jon Willis, Department of Physics and Astronomy: “Everything you have ever wanted to know about the Big Bang but were afraid to ask” (October 19, 2021)
Dr. Caren Helbing, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology: “Tracking invisible species in our environment” (October 12, 2021)
Dr. Olav Krigolson, School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education: “What if you could peer inside the human brain?” (September 14, 2021)
PAST SPECIAL TALKS