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NSERC USRAs are tenable for a 16-consecutive-week duration, and in principle, can be held in any term during the academic year. In most cases, they are held during the summer session.  In addition to a $6,000 stipend provided by NSERC, a faculty supervisor also contributes a minimum topup of $2,500.

Further details about these awards including eligibility criteria can be found on the .

As one might expect for a national program, NSERC USRA awards are very competitive, however the rewards are great if you succeed. The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria is typically allocated 6 - 8 awards per year and strongly encourages all interested students (both local and from other universities across Canada and abroad) with first or high second class standing to apply. Preference will be given to students who were not awarded a USRA at UVic in previous years. Note that only students who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada are eligible to apply for the USRA.

For a list of project descriptions, see below. 

Submit your application package through the link below: 


Application deadline: January 24, 2025

A complete application package consists of the following:
- Cover letter*
- Curriculum Vitae
- NSERC Form 202 Part I (accessed when you create an account )
- Post-secondary transcript(s)**

*In the cover letter, indicate the projects you are interested in and describe why you wish to engage in a science research project.  The cover letter should be less than 400 words. If you are interested in more than one project, please rank them according to your preference. This text is used by the committee in evaluating applications, so be sure to indicate your research potential, interests and goals.

**An unofficial transcript is acceptable for all UVic students to upload on to the NSERC site as long as the UVic transcript shows the transfer credits from any other post secondary institution(s). An official transcript must be uploaded for students from other institutions applying for a USRA tenable at UVic.

Application deadlines are dependent on the term in which the USRA is tenable and are listed with the project descriptions.

Selection criteria:

Academic excellence
As demonstrated by past academic results, transcripts, awards and distinctions.
Indicators of academic excellence:
- Academic record
- Scholarships and awards held
- Duration of previous/current studies
- Type of program and courses pursued
- Course load
- Relative standing in program (if available)
The committee will consider the entire academic record when assessing academic excellence. The committee will favourably consider situations where an applicant has demonstrated an improving trend.

Research potential
As demonstrated by the applicant’s research history and their interest in discovery.
Indicators of research potential:
- Academic training
- Previous research/work experience (can include co-op terms)
- Relevance of work experience and academic training to field of
proposed research
- Judgement and ability to think critically
- Ability to apply skills and knowledge
- Enthusiasm for research, relevant community involvement and outreach
- Initiative and autonomy
- Research experience and achievements relative to expectations of
someone with the applicant’s academic experience

Contact Department Administrative Officer, Monica Lee-Bonar, for questions.      

Project Title:  Astro-Metrology and Atmospheric Metrology: ALTAIR Flights for the Precision Calibration of Measurements of our Universe, and of the Earth’s Atmosphere

Project Supervisor:  Justin Albert

ALTAIR (Airborne Laser for Telescopic Atmosphere Interference Reduction, ) is both a miniature propelled high-altitude balloon program and an international collaboration which is funded by NSERC and DND, led by UVic, for precision optical and microwave calibration of ground-based telescopes at sites around the world, such as at the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile ().  A brief 350-word project description of ALTAIR can be found at .  ALTAIR will be preparing for new flights, and undergoing intensive laboratory and outdoor testing, during this summer.  We are looking for a highly-motivated student, or students, to assist with new design, construction, and testing of ALTAIR, as well as the further development of the flight software.

Project Title:  Study of the coexistence of competing quantum phases of matter with entanglement renormalization methods   

Project Supervisor: Thomas Baker

Solving quantum problems can lead to different and new phenomena that may not be obvious from either the classical perspective or before the model is solved. One way to realize a distinctly quantum effect is to place two phases of matter that are of opposing order next to each other and observe the interplay between them. The project will combine analytic solutions and entanglement-based solution methods from the density matrix renormalization group to investigate beyond ground-state properties of a quantum lattice model. We will also observe the entanglement between the systems, effects of symmetry breaking, and observe the effects—topological and otherwise--that changing boundary conditions will impose on the final solution result. Researchers will benefit from a course on statistical field theory and entanglement renormalization.

Project Title:  Radiotherapy for dog cancer patients

Project Supervisor:  Magdalena Bazalova-Carter

In the basement of Elliott, a world’s unique dual-robot radiotherapy system, Kilovoltage Optimized AcceLerator Adaptive therapy (KOALA), is being developed. To demonstrate its proof of principle, treatments of dog cancer patients are planned for late 2026, pending animal protocol approvals. KOALA treatment side effects could potentially be decreased with the implementation of spatially-fractionated radiotherapy (SFRT). The goal of the project is to develop an acceptable SFRT treatment plan for a dog patient and to deliver it to a model of a dog.

The student will become familiar with the process of cancer radiotherapy and its treatment planning, medical images, x-ray interactions, Monte Carlo dose calculations and dose measurements. The project will include both computer simulations as well as experiments. The student will work with a team of trainees and will become familiar with 3D-printing, robotics, and film dosimetry. Good Python computational skills and interest in very fun experimental work are a plus.

Project Title: Generation of entangled photons from Raman scattering 

Project Supervisor: Alexandre Brolo                     

The objective of this project is to implement a novel platform capable of generating and measuring correlated photons. The summer project will involve the use of a pico-second laser system to generate entangled Stokes-anti-Stokes photon pairs (SaS) from metallic nanostructures.  Normal Raman processes yield scattered photons with energy that is either lower or higher than the excitation laser photon; those processes are called Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering, respectively. However, in the conditions of high fields, there is a probability for two incident photons to simultaneously generate an entangled SaS. Metallic nanostructures have the ability to concentrate light at subwavelength regions through the excitation of surface plasmon resonances. Therefore, the efficiency of SaS generation should be increased from those metallic nanosystems. Our group, in collaboration with Prof. Rogerio de Sousa (UVic Physics) have already implemented the required optical setup for these measurements (using funds from the NFRF program).

The role of the student is to set up the laser system and to test the new setup for the generation of SaS from metallic nanostructures. The student will first be trained in the current system. The current system allow measurements of SaS from regular materials (water, diamond), but the SaS generated from metallic nanostructures is too noisy. In any case, the student will learn all the principle of the experiment in the first month, including the data analysis protocol. The detection will be carried out using our single photon superconducting nanowire detector. In parallel to the optical set up, the student will also design and fabricated standard metallic nanostructures for testing using electron beam lithography. The student will be assisted by both Dr. Stas Koronov (laser instrument specialist) and by Dr. Alex Wlasenko (lab manager) of our Facilities for Imaging Photonics and Spectroscopy (FIPS).”

Project Title: NIR Raman spectrometer

Project Supervisor: Alexandre Brolo 

The goal of this project is to construct a new type of microscope able to measure Raman scattering using 1400 nm laser excitation. Raman scattering is a label-free technique that provides specific information at the molecular level. Raman scattering is capable of both identifying and quantifying different molecular species simultaneously even in complex mixtures, because it carries fingerprinting characteristics of vibrational spectroscopy. These characteristics make Raman scattering suitable to several applications in, for instance, health sciences. However, fluorescence is a competitive process that interfere with (and most of times overwhelm) the Raman signal. This problem can be averted by using near IR laser excitation.

There are two issues that precluded the use of Raman in the near IR region: 1) the scattering efficiency decreases significantly in that region; 2) near IR detectors have inherently poor response. Our laboratory has acquired through CFI a new type of single photon near IR detector based on superconducting nanowires. That detector is very unique and much more sensitive than regular IR detectors. Therefore, this opens up an opportunity for the implementation of an unique Raman system with enough sensitivity and efficiency to analyse biological specimen in the near IR range without fluorescence contamination.

A prototype for the NIR Raman system has been set up. The role of the student is to improve the alignment of the 1400 nm laser optics for sample excitation and collection. The collection will involve the rejection of the laser line through a Bragg fiber filter and wavelength selection using a monochromator. The detection will be carried out using our single photon superconducting nanowire detector. The student will also write the codes for data acquisition and spectral display. The system will be tested with standard materials, such as silicon, a pinene and sugar. The student will be assisted by Dr. Stas Koronov, our laser instrument specialist and by Dr. Alex Wlasenko the management of our experimental infrastructure.”

Project Title: Theory of ferroelectric materials for quantum optics 

Project Supervisor: Rogério de Sousa

In ferroelectric materials, the electric dipole of atoms align at temperatures below a critical temperature, giving rise to a macroscopic electric polarization. The electric polarization couples strongly to light, leading to large nonlinear and quantum optical effects. Ferroelectric crystals are the main ingredient in the generation of squeezed states in quantum sensing,  and are currently being used to generate entangled photon pairs for photonic-based quantum computers. In this project the undergraduate student will develop a model for quantum optics based on ferroelectric materials, and use analytical and computational tools to make predictions that are relevant for the design and optimization of quantum devices based on photons. 

Project Title: Ultracold atoms for quantum information technology.

Project Supervisor: Andrew MacRae 

Laser cooling is a counter-intuitive technique that can achieve nearly unfathomably cold temperatures - less than 0.000003K (or 1,000,000 times colder than outer space!). In such a system known as a Magneto Optical Trap, a strong laser illuminates an atomic vapour in a vacuum cell at a very specific set of wavelengths and directions. We have recently developed such a cold atom trap at the University of Victoria and are now seeking to use the cold atomic ensemble to perform an important task in quantum computing: conversion of photons from atom-resonant wavelengths to "telecom" wavelengths used in fibers. This will allow for quantum information to be transported across long distances using optical fibers - an enabling feature for the future "quantum internet". 

The student in this project will work alongside a MSc student and potentially one other undergraduate to operate and learn about the cold atom trap before modifying the system to obtain as high an atom number as possible. Specifically, the trap will be configured to obtain a high "optical depth", meaning a very large absorption to resonant light. 

Project title: Studying rare processes in proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Project Supervisor: Dr Heather Russell

The Standard Model of particle physics accurately describes much of the particles and interactions in the universe, but we know it cannot be the full story. Two of the main phenomena not described by the Standard Model are dark matter and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. These omissions lead us to studying high-energy proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The ATLAS UVic group, with members at CERN, TRIUMF, and at UVic, is involved in many aspects of the ATLAS experiment, including the study of rare Standard Model processes — which must be identified over other background processes. Understanding the sources of background events is a key component of the data analysis. In this USRA project, the student will learn about the ATLAS detector and data analysis. The student will assist our team in establishing strategies to estimate backgrounds using actual collision data and simulated events. The project is based at UVic, and could involve two months at CERN if in conjunction with an IPP Summer Student Fellowship. Basic knowledge of Special Relativity, C++/Python would be useful.