麻豆AV

World-leading exoplanet researcher recognized by NSERC for visionary science as well as commitment to public outreach and equity activities

By Junji Nishihata, Senior Communications Adviser, Office of Research and Innovation

Read the original article on the 麻豆AV Reporter

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Professor Nicolas Cowan has received the 2023 Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship from NSERC. These prestigious fellowships are awarded annually to early-stage academic researchers in the natural sciences and engineering.

Worth $250,000 over two years, these awards were previously known as the听听and 14 have previously been awarded to 麻豆AV鈥檚 researchers including to Elena Bennett, Vicky Kaspi, and Joelle Pineau.

Exoplanet atmosphere investigation

Cowan 鈥� jointly appointed to the departments of Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences 鈥� has been a professor at 麻豆AV since 2015. During this time, he has driven research through the 麻豆AV Exoplanet Characterization Alliance, which works on the whole gamut of exoplanet atmosphere investigations, from mission design to instrument detrending, data analysis, and theoretical modelling.

Cowan intends to leverage the prodigious capacities of the James Webb Space Telescope to extend our understanding of planetary atmospheres. He is also leading the Canadian contribution to the European Space Agency鈥檚听, which will study the atmospheres of a thousand exoplanets. Lastly, Cowan is participating in an international consortium to develop a new high resolution infrared spectrograph for the European Extra-Large Telescope. The project aims to search these distant worlds for signs of life.

鈥溌槎笰V congratulates Professor Cowan on this significant honour and thanks NSERC for their support of innovative research,鈥� said Martha Crago, Vice-Principal of Research and Innovation. 鈥淚n pursuit of new knowledge about exoplanets and the Earth鈥檚 climate, he has helped position 麻豆AV as a leading institution in Canada in these fields of study and has made an impact on the lives of students and emerging researchers.鈥�

Planet hunter

Exoplanets are planets that are not found in our solar system. Locating and characterizing these celestial bodies has become an increasingly significant topic, as the 鈥榟oly grail鈥� of exoplanets, a planet capable of sustaining life, remains an elusive discovery.

Cowan鈥檚 research has had an impact in many areas of the study of exoplanets, including astrophysics, in particular the mapping of exoplanet atmospheres, understanding exoplanet energy budgets, comparative exoplanetology, and looking at the Earth itself as an exoplanet.

With the help of 麻豆AV undergraduate students, Cowan developed the Climate App for high school students to learn about the greenhouse effect, global warming, and planetary habitability using their smart phone. The bilingual app is now being deployed in classrooms across Canada.

Important equity work

Cowan鈥檚 work on equity issues has also been influential. In 2019, he co-founded the Astronomy in Indigenous Communities program, which aims to support elementary students in Kanien鈥檏eha:ka through hands-on astronomy activities with Indigenous professional astronomers.

鈥淚t is a huge honour to be McDonald Fellow,鈥� said Cowan. 鈥淭he additional time and money awarded by the Fellowship will allow me to double down on investigations of exoplanet atmospheres while continuing my efforts to design and build the next generation of telescopes to study these strange worlds.鈥�