Prospective Students

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Current PDF Opportunity - Alliance Project PDF
Current PhD Opportunity - Alliance Project PhD

I am always interested to hear (get in touch by email!) from motivated students who are interested in:

PhD (Applied Science, Faculty of Graduate Studies)
MSc (Applied Science, Faculty of Graduate Studies)
Honours Project (Environmental Science, ENVS 4599)
Honours Project (Astronomy & Physics, PHYS 4790)
Summer Undergraduate Work (Full-time research, including NSERC USRA, COOP and SMUWorks)
Fall/Spring Undergraduate Work (Part-time research via SMUWorks)

So you are thinking of a graduate degree, maybe a PhD? Here are some thoughts I wrote, nearly 20 years ago, which still ring true to me, but of course everyone is different. :)

PhD vs. Portaging a Canoe
PhD vs. Frodo's Quest
Summary 1: Hard things are hard.
Summary 2: If an undergraduate assignment is a stadium sprint then a PhD project is a marathon - through a forest and without a clear path.
Summary 3: You are never completely alone.
Summary 4: Research as knowledge production is a highly creative process, vastly different from undergraduate work for good marks.
If this all sounds interesting but a bit scary, I am always happy to discuss potential projects with potential students.
Given the interdisciplinary nature of what I do, I put much conscious effort into matching the right student to the right project.
I have worked in the past with students from Environmental Science, Astronomy & Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science.
The top graduate student attributes I look for are maturity, curiosity, initiative, and conscientiousness / attention to detail.
The top transferrable skill is precise verbal and written communication - though we work on these as part of the degree.
Any strong student with a background or interest in Physical Science, plus a willingness to develop scientific programming skills for data analysis (e.g., with Python) can be successful in my group.

Postdoctoral enquiries are welcome, with external funding.

[A WARG Christmas! 2021]

A WARG Christmas - Living it up between lockdowns in Dec 2021!

L-R: Martin Hellmich, Ian Ashpole, Kyle Yeates, Aldona Wiacek, Morgan Mitchell, Cameron Power

[Fall 2017]

Fall 2017 L-R: Morgan Mitchell, Taylor Gray, Ian Ashpole, Aldona Wiacek, Keane Tobin

[Summer 2015]

Summer 2015 L-R: Kean Tobin, Aldona Wiacek (gestating Finn!), Julia Purcell, Li Li

[Summer 2014]

Summer 2014 L-R: Aldona Wiacek, Julia Purcell, Dan Lv