Research Initiatives

The goals to enhance research excellence were achieved with the awarding to two CIAR Fellowships and a Killam fellowship to members of the Cosmology group. Lester has developed a low resolution spectrograph for detecting fundamental stellar spectra to complement measurements which resolve surfaces, now being accomplished with spatial interferometers. Plans for a precision spectrograph for detecting extrasolar planets are promising. An MOU has been signed (March 1999) to cooperate with OCIW in developing research initiatives with their 2.5 meter telescope in Chile. The MOU also opens the door to collaboration on the twin giant Magellan telescopes (§ 2.5.5). On the national and international fronts, several faculty are deeply involved in plans to enable Canada to participate in a new wave of international projects through the expenditure of $200M on ground-based and space-based astronomy, and have led major national collaborative research projects (§ 2.1).