Carleton is partnering with seven other Canadian universities and five organizations to create the Canadian Particle Astrophysics Research Centre.
The centre will be supported by a $63.7 million investment from the Canadian government’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund, and will be headquartered at Queen’s University.
The centre will look to build on Canada’s position as a leader in the particle physics field, according to a press release. Carleton’s share of the funding will be used to create two new faculty positions, and will support research by graduate students in related fields.
The first faculty member is expected to be hired in Sept. 2017, and the second in Sept. 2018, according to Alain Bellerive, the chair of Carleton’s physics department.
The centre will create 41 new positions for researchers, engineers, designers, and technicians, according to a press release. Additionally, about 18 postdoctoral fellows and 40 graduate students will be given the opportunity to contribute to research at the centre on an annual basis.
Other organizations involved in the project include the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Institute of Particle Physics, and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory LAB (SNOLAB).
The proposal has been in development for about three years, and the money is to support faculty and staff at the partner universities for seven years, said Heather Logan, a professor in Carleton’s physics department. The host universities are expected to pay the costs after that.
Carleton has maintained close ties with SNOLAB for a number of years.
Bellerive helped build the original facility, while David Sinclair, a physics professor at Carleton, is the current deputy director of SNOLAB.
“The centre is the SNOLAB where we are studying the properties of neutrinos,” Bellerive said. “It’s like a hospital—you can buy a building and [the equipment], but you still need doctors and nurses to run it. We’re at the doctors and nurses stage.”
Sinclair said the last big funding announcement was crucial to the creation of the SNOLAB.
“[The funding] is a huge boost to our field,” Sinclair said. “They’re giving us the scientific resources to do it properly.”
Sinclair added that specialization within research is key.
“Universities, especially ones the size of Carleton, can’t do everything, and so universities have been asked to build teams with specific expertise. Carleton chose this field in part because of its already strong team and research,” he said.
According to Logan, research around dark matter and neutrinos is important because it can help unlock how galaxies form.
“Canada’s a player in this in a pretty big way—it’s exciting, leading edge stuff,” she said. “Construction is important, but . . . having extra people pushes you forward.”
