Colloquia and Seminars 2024-25
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.
PAST COLLOQUIA
Wednesday, April 2
Dr. Lukasz Fidkowski, University of Washington
“Topological Phases of Condensed Matter Quantum Systems”
Wednesday, March 26
Dr. Lena Koslover, UC San Diego
“Tunneling through the Cell: Structure and Transport in Organelle Networks”
Wednesday, March 12
Dr. Suzanne Carbotte, Columbia University
“Illuminating the great earthquake fault of the Cascadia subduction zone with modern geophysical techniques: Implications for earthquake rupture propagation and plate fragmentation”
Wednesday, March 5
Dr. Isabel Trigger, TRIUMF
“Mapping Electroweak Symmetry Breaking with ATLAS at the LHC”
Wednesday, February 26
Dr. Suzie Sheehy, University of Melbourne
“Advancing Medical Accelerators: toward smaller, faster, and more sustainable technologies”
Wednesday, February 12
Dr. Katelin Schutz, McGill University
“Revealing Hidden Particles and Forces with Gravitational Clues”
Wednesday, February 5
Dr. Scott Tremaine, Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)
“The Dynamics of Comets, and Modified Gravity in the Solar System”
Wednesday, January 29
Dr. Clara Santato, Polytechnique Montréal
“Biodegradable Organic Electronics”
Wednesday, January 22
Dr. Ross Stein, Temblor, Inc. CEO and Cofounder, Lecturer in Geophysics at Stanford University
“On Scientific Temptation, Transgression, and Fraud: Three Personal Stories”
Wednesday, January 15
Dr. Rae Robertson-Anderson, University of San Diego
“Dynamics of Active Bio-Inspired Materials: from Cytoskeleton Composites to Circadian Colloids”
Wednesday, December 4
Dr. Matt Dobbs, McGill University
“How Did We Get Here? Unraveling the Evolution of the Universe with New, Made-in-Canada Instruments”
Wednesday, November 27
Dr. Shang-Hua Yang, National Tsing Hua University
“Terahertz Optoelectronics and Beyond”
Wednesday, November 20
Dr. Falk Herwig, University of Victoria
“Transmutation and translocation: Common mechanisms of heavy element formation and protein synthesis”
Wednesday, November 6
Dr. Ilsa Cooke, University of British Columbia
“Unraveling the journey of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – from the cold interstellar medium to asteroids”
Wednesday, October 30
Dr. Xiaoyue Li, TRIUMF
“Unlocking the physics potential of Hyper-Kamiokande”
Wednesday, October 23
Dr. Masha Baryakhtar, University of Washington
“Ultralight Particles from the Lab to the Cosmos”
Wednesday, October 9
Dr. Gina Passante, California State University, Fullerton
“Teaching & Learning Quantum Computing”
Wednesday, October 2
Dr. Ruth Digby, Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling Analysis
“Aerosol Physics: A Short Introduction to Climate Science’s Biggest Uncertainty”
Wednesday, September 25
Dr. Mathieu Juan, Université de Sherbrooke
“Optomechanics in the microwave regime”
Wednesday, September 18
Dr. Sara Ellison, University of Victoria
“Clash of the Titans: Galaxy mergers in the nearby Universe”
Wednesday, September 11
Dr. Kristan Jensen, University of Victoria
“Wormholes and black holes in quantum gravity”
Seminars are specialized and geared for those in a particular field. Dates and times for these talks vary.
PAST SEMINARS
Tuesday, April 11
Dr. Elisa Resconi, Technical University of Munich
“High and Ultra-High-Energy Neutrinos: Cosmic Accelerators, Black Holes, and Quantum Imprints”
Tuesday, April 8
Dr. Andrew MacRae, University of Victoria
“Atom-Based Quantum Memories and Sources for Telecom Integration”
Tuesday, April 1
Michael Gennari, TRIUMF
“Modelling electroweak processes in light nuclei: Nuclear Fermi decays and V_ud”
Friday, March 7
Dr. Christopher Charles, TRIUMF
“Particle Accelerator Chemistry: Radiolytic Production of Organic Molecules and Emergence of Life in Extreme Planetary Environments”
Tuesday, November 26
Dr. Ruben Lier, University of Amsterdam
“How Ideas Trickle Down Hydrodynamically: a Higher-Form Story”
Monday, November 25
Dr. Janosz Dewberry
“All the Small Waves: Seismology and Tides in Rapidly Rotating Planets and Stars”
Wednesday, September 25
Dr. Danny Horta, Flatiron Institute
“A glimpse into the Milky Way's distant past: Unravelling the Galaxy's early assembly history with large stellar surveys”
Thursday, September 5
Dr. Evan Carlson, University of Victoria
“Searching for Long-Lived Supersymmetric Particles Using Displaced Vertices and Missing Transverse Energy with the ATLAS Detector”
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: /science/donors/outreach/cafe-scientifique/index.php
PAST Café Scientifique TALKS
Dr. Heather Russell, University of Victoria (April 9, 2025)
Dr. Laura Ferrarese, National Research Council of Canada (January 8, 2025)
Dr. Kristan Jensen, University of Victoria (November 13, 2024)
PAST SPECIAL TALKS
February 27, 2025
Dr. Suzie Sheehy, University of Melbourne
“Lessons from Curiosity-Driven Physics Research”