Meet the AUPAC 2021 team!

Brett MacNeil is a fourth year student at Dalhousie University finishing up a concentrated honours degree in physics. He has worked with Dr. Ted Monchesky for the past three years, studying the growth and characterization of magnetic thin films using molecular beam epitaxy. Outside of school, he enjoys volunteering and leading programs with Scouts Canada as well as playing golf, cooking chilli, and making memes.

Matthew Coon is in his 4th year of an Honours in Physics at Dalhousie University. His academic focus is on applied physics and green energy. The past two summers, Matthew has worked as a summer research student, first for Dr. Jeff Dahn working on lithium metal battery technology and now with Dr. Ian Hill working on organic photovoltaic devices. When he is not in the lab, Matthew enjoys camping, kayaking, and spending time with his friends and family.

Nick is a fourth year honours student. He has spent his undergrad learning cool stuff, and doing summer/honours work in the areas of stellar astrophysics and orbital mechanics. Together with fellow AUPAC 2021 team member Caroline Barton, he has authored the open source astrophysics project BinaryStarSolver. In his free time, Nick enjoys losing at online blitz chess, as well as skiing when the ligaments in his knees are intact. 

Luke is in his fourth year of an Honours in Physics with a minor in math. He has worked in a variety of groups in quantum optics, dark matter, and condensed matter physics. In the future, he plans to pursue either quantum computing or big data analytics, and eventually wants to bring technical knowledge to the private or public sector to help tackle a societal issue like climate change or health care. In his free time, Luke loves to play music (poorly) and explore the outdoors.

Dylan Howe is a fourth year physics major at Dalhousie University. Aside from his studies, he has engaged in undergraduate medical physics research by characterizing the uniformity of 3D-Printed materials for electron beam therapy. Outside of school, he enjoys playing rugby, volunteering, cooking, and gaming with friends.

Erika is a 3rd years physics and mathematics student who is running the grad fair at this year’s AUPAC. When Erika is not doing school she enjoys playing the fiddle and giving baths to her chickens Ophelia and Hefty (pictured), whose existence in Erika’s backyard is definitely legal.

Rebecca is in the last year of an honours physics degree with minors in math and philosophy. She is the president of the Dalhousie Undergraduate Physics Society and she's really enjoyed being part of the physics community here at Dalhousie. Though she loves physics, her career and research interests right now are in programming, machine learning, modeling, data visualization, public health, sociology/psychology, economics, and teaching.

Melissa Burbidge is a fourth year student at Dalhousie University competing a BSc. with a major in Physics and minor in Math. Upon completing this year, she hopes to begin a BEd. at Acadia University and teach high school Mathematics and Physics. While not in school, Melissa enjoys spending time with others, doing yoga, and being outdoors. 

James Munday is in the third year of a combined honours in Physics and Math at Dalhousie. This past summer, Munday completed a research project in stellar astrophysics. Outside of school, he enjoys playing both guitar and basketball, though not simultaneously.

Yi Ming is a fourth year physics student studying at Dalhousie University. For his research experience, his has worked in two different research groups, which are associated with theoretical Condensed Matter Physics and Biophysics (Soft Matter). In the future,  he would like to learn some medical skills, to help people. Personally, he is very curious about the nature of our universe and what an ultimate civilization might look like. Also, he likes to watch anime!

Katherine Lee is in her 3rd year of a double honours in Physics and Ocean Sciences at Dalhousie University. She grew up on Vancouver Island. When not studying she enjoys sailing, singing, reading, and attempting to prevent her cat from losing the apartment’s damage deposit.