Message from the Director
It is an exciting time to start a career in Physics and the Guelph-Waterloo Physics Institute is an exciting place to do physics. The Guelph-Waterloo Physics Institute (or GWPI) began in 1981, and was Canada 's first joint graduate program in physics. The idea is simple: by combining the research interests and expertise of two nearby campuses it is possible to offer a wider range of courses and research directions than either campus could do alone. By taking advantage of the geographic proximity of the campuses and the complimentarity in research interests, one can get all the benefits of a much larger single department. In addition to members from the physics departments at Guelph , Waterloo , and Wilfrid Laurier University , we have members from Chemistry, Applied Math, Optometry, Engineering and Food Science. From black holes to biophysics, GWPI has something to meet the interests of every physics graduate student.
GWPI currently has over 80 faculty and over 130 graduate students. Between the two campuses, we have research efforts in Industrial and Applied Physics, Astrophysics and Gravitation, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, Biophysics, Chemical Physics, Condensed Matter and Material Physics, Subatomic Physics, and Quantum Computing. Students interested in the highly active and topical area of quantum computing are sure to find what they want at the recently formed Institute for Quantum Computing. Students interested in working at the Perimeter Institute for theoretical physics- a unique centre in Canada for studying some of the deepest most profound theoretical problems in physics- should also apply through GWPI.
Our faculty members are internationally known and regarded and have won a number of prestigious awards. By any standard (awards, funding, publications) GWPI is recognized to be one of the finest graduate programs in the country. As a result, graduates from our program have been successful in finding rewarding careers both within academia and in the private sector.
The campuses are linked through two video classrooms on each campus. This allows students to take courses that originate at the other campus without actually having to travel there. This applies equally well to research meetings and this electronic link can facilitate collaborations between the two campuses. In principle we can link with any other University with a similar system.
Have a look at our web pages, and see what is going on in GWPI. If you want any more information please feel free to contact our admissions office or me directly.
Brian McNamara, Director of GWPI
