We are pleased to invite you to participate in the two-day event “Astrophysiciennes & Astrobiologistes” on May 25th and May 26th 2021. This French-Canada Dialogue, co-organised with the Origins Institute from McMaster University, is a free digital event to explore research on the origins of life in the universe. Along the day, you will be able to understand major discoveries made by women researchers in that field of science.

Pr. Françoise Combes

 

 

Join us to follow the special keynote by Pr. Françoise Combes. She is the first woman professor to lead an Astrophysics Chair in College de France, on the chair “Galaxies and Cosmology”. She is an astrophysicist at Paris Observatory, and member of the Academy of Sciences. Her main areas of research are the formation and evolution of galaxies, their dynamics and co-evolution with supermassive black holes, the interstellar medium of galaxies and dark matter models. Lately, she was awarded the CNRS 2020 Gold Medal, one of France’s most prestigious scientific distinctions and she is a laureate of 23rd L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards.

 

 

 

Meet our others exceptional speakers (biographies available after the program) :

Pr. Christine Wilson – Dr. Anne-Marie Lagrange – Pr. Laura Parker – Dr. Miho Janvier – Dr. Allyson Brady – Sian Ford – Alix Dujardin – Rishita Gudapati – Aileen Shanzeela

 

PROGRAM

May 25th – Day 1

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/1616038874714/WN_gNkrnSRESrGAcehYjhiFLA

 

10:00   Opening Remarks by Pr. Maureen MacDonald (Dean, Faculty of Science, McMaster University)

10:10   Galaxy Evolution in Dense Environments by Pr. Laura Parker (McMaster University)

10:30   What it means to live in the neighbourhood of an active star by Dr. Miho Janvier (Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay)

10:50   Questions for Pr. Laura Parker and Dr. Miho Janvier

11:00   History and content of the Universe by Pr. Françoise Combes (Collège de France)

12:00   Questions for Pr. Françoise Combes

12:15   Panel discussion (topic will be announced soon)

1:00    End

 

May 26th – Day 2

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/1616038874714/WN_37OgLocpSCyQ4yr5Au_7sw

 

10:00   Opening Remarks by Pr. Juliet Daniel (Acting Associate Dean of Research & External Relations, McMaster University)

10:10    Dense Gas and Star Formation in nearby Starburst Galaxies with ALMA by Pr. Christine Wilson (McMaster University)

10:40   The Search for Other Worlds by Dr. Anne-Marie Lagrange (Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Science Lettres)

11:10   Questions for Pr. Wilson and Dr. Anne-Marie Lagrange

11:30    Boots on the Ground: Learning on Earth for Scientific Success on Mars by Dr. Allyson Brady (McMaster University)

11:45   Questions for Dr. Allyson Brady

12:00  Panel Presentations & Discussion

How did first life emerge on terrestrial planets? by Sian Ford (Ph.D. Candidate McMaster University) & Alix Dujardin (Ph.D. Candidate, McMaster University)

History of Astrobiology by Rishita Gudapati (M.Sc. Student, McMaster University)

Black Holes and Gravitational Waves by Aileen Shanzeela (B.Sc. Student, McMaster University)

1:00    End

 

SPEAKERS 

 

Christine Wilson is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at McMaster. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Extragalactic Star Formation and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Her research focuses on observational astronomy, specifically on gas and star formation in galaxies, and makes extensive use of new and archival data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Anne-Marie Lagrange is a French astrophysicist (CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, PSL). Her work focuses on the research and study of extrasolar planetary systems. She has been  involved in the first discovery of the exocomets, and the first imaging of disks and then extrasolar planets. She is a member of the French Académie des Sciences.

Laura Parker is a professor and university scholar at McMaster University. Laura came to McMaster in 2007 after a post-doctoral fellowship in Munich Germany and a PhD from the University of Waterloo. Laura and her research group use ground- and space-based observatories to explore how galaxies in the Universe form and evolve over cosmic time.

Miho Janvier is a space physicist at the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, France. Her current work focuses on the understanding of when solar flares occur, how solar storms travel in space and how they impact planetary environments in the solar system.

Allyson Brady is a researcher in the School of Earth, Environment & Society at McMaster and is actively involved in astrobiology and space exploration research. Her main area of interest is in understanding how life can exist in harsh environments on Earth, and how we can use that information to help find evidence

Sian is a PhD candidate at McMaster studying life in extreme environments and how life on Earth can inform our search for life elsewhere in the solar system.

Alix Dujardin a Ph.D. candidate in biology and chemistry at McMaster where she researches the origin of life, more specifically the emergence of the first genetic material

Rishita Gudapati is a M.Sc student at the McMaster University and Aileen Shanzeela is a B.Sc student at the McMaster University