Shohini Ghose | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of New Mexico Miami University |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Wilfrid Laurier University University of Calgary |
Thesis | Quantum And Classical Dynamics Of Atoms In A Magneto‐optical Lattice (2003) |
Shohini Ghose is a quantum physicist and Professor of Physics and Computer Science at Wilfrid Laurier University. [1] She has served as the president of the Canadian Association of Physicists (2019-2020), [2] co-editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Physics, [3] and the Director of the Laurier Centre for Women in Science. [1] She was named a 2014 TED Fellow [4] and a 2018 TED Senior Fellow. [5] In 2019 she appeared on the Star TV show TED Talks India Nayi Baat hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. [6] In 2017 she was elected to the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. [7] Her book Clues to the Cosmos was released in India in December 2019. In 2020, she was selected as an NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering. [8]
Ghose grew up in India where she dreamed of becoming an astronaut after finding out about the first Indian astronaut in space. [9] She moved to Miami University for her undergraduate studies, where she majored in physics and mathematics. [9] She received her PhD in physics from the University of New Mexico in 2003. [9] She was awarded the Chairman's award for best dissertation titled "Quantum And Classical Dynamics Of Atoms In A Magneto‐optical Lattice", [10] which delved into the quantum chaotic behavior of atoms interacting with lasers and magnetic fields. [11]
In 2003, Ghose moved to the University of Calgary where she held an Alberta Ingenuity Postdoctoral Fellowship. [12] After one year of postdoctoral research, she accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2005. [9] She continued her research in the field of quantum physics, working on quantum entanglement, chaos and tunneling. She is best known for her work with her colleague Poul Jessen's team at the University of Arizona to make the first ever observations of individual cesium atoms that showed the effect of chaos on quantum entanglement. [13] Her research on quantum chaos was selected for the 2011 McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology – an annual collection of breakthroughs in science and technology. [14]
In 2012 Ghose co-authored the first introductory astronomy textbook in Canada for university students. [15] Today her research is focused on quantum information science. She has published on the topics of quantum communication, teleportation, multiparty quantum correlations and quantum chaos. [16] She is a Fellow of the Balsillie School of International Affairs, [17] and is the Co-Editor in Chief (2018-) of the Canadian Journal of Physics. [18]
In 2019, Ghose's TED talk “A beginners guide to quantum computing” was featured on TED.com. [19] In 2014 she gave a TEDx talk at Nickel City titled "Breaking barriers with quantum physics", in 2015 "How Quantum Physics Can Help Us Fight Climate Change" in TEDxVictoria, and in 2016 "The Surprising Power of Uncertainty" at Thunder Bay. [20] [21] [22] She spoke at the 2015 Smithsonian Institution Future is Here Festival on "Alice in Quantum Wonderland". [23] She has been featured in several online science videos including on BBC and PBS Nova. [16] [24] [25]
Ghose was one of few women in her PhD physics program. Her experiences led her in 2012 to found Laurier's University Research Centre for Women in Science (WinS), whose mission is to build a strong community for women in science through research, communication, and action. [26] The Centre supports research in science and social science, provides resources and mentorship to other organizations, organizes and sponsors conferences, workshops and outreach activities, facilitates networking, and helps develop policy and actions to address structural and social barriers in science. In the WinS research exhibit #DistractinglyHonest, Wilfrid Laurier University researcher Eden Hennessey explored sexism in science. [27] The WinS platform #MySTEMStory explores women's lives in physics. In 2015 Ghose gave a TEDx talk titled, "What if Einstein had been a woman?". [28] In 2016 she delivered an INKTalk "Women scientists you've never heard of", [29] and created a TED-Ed video on Marie Curie. [30]
Ghose serves on various advisory councils and panels, and has served as a consultant to academia, industry and government on the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in science. [16] She is an affiliate of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and served as the Institute's first Equity Diversity and Inclusion Specialist from 2018-2019. [31] She was part of the advisory team that developed the Dimensions Charter - the Canadian national charter on EDI, and spoke at the launch of the charter in 2019 with Canada's Minister of Science. [32] She is the first Canadian member of the Working Group on Women in Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. [33] This group has organized the largest global surveys of the status of women in physics. [34] Ghose is the first person of color to be elected President of the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP). [35] In this role she has created and chaired a standing committee to embed EDI in all activities of the CAP across Canada. [35]
In 2020, Ghose was chosen to be one of the five Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) regional Chairs for Women in Science and Engineering. [36] A Wilfrid Laurier University press release stated that "In collaboration with her fellow chairs in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, the Prairies, British Columbia and Yukon, Ghose will lead a national and regional effort to increase the participation and retention of women in science and engineering." [37]
Ghose has won the Wilfrid Laurier University Merit Award several times (2010, 2015, 2016, 2018) for outstanding research/teaching/service.
2004 - Alberta Ingenuity Fellowship [12]
2011 - Shera Bangali Award [38]
2014 - Gifted Citizen [39]
2014 - Mahatma Gandhi Global Achievers award [40] [41]
2014 - Women of Waterloo (WOW) Education Award [42]
2014 - American Physical Society Women Physicist of the Month [43] [44]
2014 - TED Fellow [45]
2015 - Indo-Canadians The A List [46]
2016 - Rogers Woman of the Year Award [47] [48]
2017 - Hoffman-Little Award [49]
2017 - Inductee, Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists [50]
2018 - Faculty of Science Award for Teaching Excellence, Wilfrid Laurier University [51]
2018 - Senior TED Fellow [52]
2019 - Featured among 25 women from around the world in UNESCO exhibit, Paris, France: ‘Remarkable Women in Technology [53]
2020 - Selected as NSERC Ontario Chair for Women in Science and Engineering [54]
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as well as Canadian companies to perform research and training. With funding from the Government of Canada, NSERC supports the research of over 41,000 students, trainees and professors at universities and colleges in Canada with an annual budget of CA$1.1 billion in 2015. Its current director is Alejandro Adem.
Mihal "Mike" Lazaridis is a Canadian businessman, investor in quantum computing technologies, and co-founder of Research In Motion, which created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. In November 2009, Canadian Business ranked Lazaridis as the 11th wealthiest Canadian, with an estimated net worth of CA$2.9 billion.
Martin Luther University College, formerly Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada federated with Wilfrid Laurier University, located in Waterloo, Ontario.
Wilfrid Laurier University is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses of the original Waterloo campus; instead the university describes itself as a "multi-campus multi-community university". The university also operates offices in Kitchener, Toronto, and Yellowknife.
Max Blouw was the president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University. He was inducted into this position on September 1, 2007. After serving two 5 year terms, Blouw stepped down and was replaced by Deborah MacLatchy.
Raymond Laflamme, OC, FRSC is a Canadian theoretical physicist and founder and until mid 2017, was the director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo. He is also a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and an associate faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Laflamme is currently a Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information. In December 2017, he was named as one of the appointees to the Order of Canada.
Paul Bruce Corkum is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science. He holds a joint University of Ottawa–NRC chair in attosecond photonics. He also holds academic positions at Texas A&M University and the University of New Mexico. Corkum is both a theorist and an experimentalist.
Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar is a Serbian-born Canadian astrophysicist, science educator and author. Her specialty is teaching astrophysics to students enrolled in non-science programs at the University of Winnipeg.
Christine "Chris" Klassen is an undergraduate instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in the department of Religion and Culture. Klassen's area of focus is on religion, culture and feminism. Klassen has completed comprehensive research in the area of "feminist witchcraft, Wicca and other forms of contemporary paganism."
Hind Al-Abadleh is a professor of chemistry at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She studies the physical chemistry of environmental interfaces, aerosols and climate change.
Lindsay J. LeBlanc is a Canadian atomic physicist. She is an associate professor of physics at University of Alberta and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair for Quantum Simulation with Ultracold Quantum Gases. Her work involves quantum simulation, quantum memory, and developing hybrid quantum systems.
Gilles Fontaine was a professor of astrophysics at the Université de Montréal in Quebec, Canada.
Kimberly "Kim" E. Strong is an atmospheric physicist and the first woman to serve as chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto. Her research involves studying stratospheric ozone chemistry, climate, and air quality using ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite instruments.
Sophie LaRochelle is a Canada Research Chair and professor of engineering at Université Laval. She specializes in developing fiber optic components for signal-processing and data transmission in telecommunication networks.
Deborah Lynn MacLatchy is a Canadian ecotoxicologist and comparative endocrinologist. She is the seventh President and Vice-Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University, having formally led the International Office at the University of New Brunswick. She also served as President and Council Member of the Canadian Society of Zoologists and Chair of the Science Directors of the Canadian Rivers Institute. In 2012, MacLatchy was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in a Top 100 list compiled by the Women’s Executive Network.
Eileen Ann Mercier is a Canadian businesswoman. In 2016, she was appointed the Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University, having formerly served as chair of the board of directors of Payments Canada and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. In 2018, she was named one of Canada's 100 most powerful women and was inducted into the Women's Executive Network Hall of Fame.
Nicole Coviello is a Canadian marketing professor. She is the inaugural Lazaridis Chair of International Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. She is also Professor of Marketing at Laurier and Visiting Research Professor at LUT University.
Edward H. Sargent is a Canadian scientist, who serves as University Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Vice-President of Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Toronto. He also is the Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology. He will join the Departments of Chemistry and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northwestern University, and will be affiliated with the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern.
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