Toronto, ON, June 22 -- The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, a nationally-supported research center hosted by the University of Toronto, recognized two of its young researchers for research done over the previous year. Awards were given to Jonathan Sievers and Jonathan Dursi.

Sievers is the seventh recipient of the Beatrice D. Tremaine Postdoctoral Fellowship, given by the CITA council for outstanding research by a postdoctoral researcher. He was nominated for his work in analyzing signals from several experiments measuring the cosmic microwave background, the light echos of the first sounds in the Universe. The Tremaine fellowship was established by the father of CITA co-founder Scott Tremaine, Vincent Tremaine, in memory of Beatrice D. Tremaine to honour her lifelong interest in mathematics, science and learning.

Dursi was given the Jeffrey L. Bishop Fellowship, awarded every two years. It is an award for excellence in research in astrophysical dynamics in particular, and is named after one of CITA's first postdoctoral fellows, who died in an automobile accident shortly after leaving the Institute. The Fellowship is funded by a gift from his Mother, Mrs. Muriel Simmons. Dursi's work is on astrophysical fluid dynamics generally, particularly using computational methods, in systems from supernovae to galaxy clusters.

Dursi was surprised and honoured by the award, announced at the Canadian Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary, and presented officially at a CITA function this month. ``Being selected out of such outstanding company is quite an honour'', he said. ``CITA researchers, and my fellow postdocs, are among the best anywhere; so for my own work to be ecognized means quite a lot to me.''

About the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) is a world-class, nationally supported, research center for studies in theoretical astrophysics and related subjects hosted by the University of Toronto. The primary missions of CITA are to foster interaction within the Canadian theoretical astrophysics community and to serve as an international center of excellence for theoretical studies in astrophysics. CITA receives research support from a collaborative special project grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), as well as the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR). More information about CITA and the work of its researchers is available at http://www.cita.utoronto.ca.