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News Release
Interim Scientific Director Announced at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
September 27, 2007
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
The Board of Directors of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI)
is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Robert Myers to the position
of Interim Scientific Director following unanimous endorsement by the
Institute's Faculty and Associate members. Professor Myers, a founding
member of Perimeter Institute, will provide scientific direction involving
all aspects of research activities. The appointment is effective
immediately and ensures continuity in scientific leadership as a search
for a long-term Scientific Director is conducted. That process involves
the Scientific Director Selection Committee, which includes Dr. Myers, as
well as the Board of Directors and the Institute's highly esteemed
Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC).
About Professor Myers:
Robert Myers is one of Canada's most outstanding theoretical physicists.
His research, characterized by deep physical insights and originality,
places him among the highest ranks of string theorists around the world.
He received his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1986, after which he was
a postdoctoral researcher at what became the Kavli Institute for
Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He
moved to McGill University in 1989, where he was a Professor of Physics
until moving to Perimeter Institute and the University of Waterloo in the
summer of 2001. Professor Myers was awarded the Herzberg Medal in 1999 by
the Canadian Association of Physicists for seminal contributions to our
understanding of black hole microphysics and D-branes. He is also the 2005
winner of Canada's top prize in theoretical and mathematical physics
awarded by the Canadian Association of Physicists and the Centre de
Recherches Mathématiques. In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada. He is one of the few people to have won the first-place
award in the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Contest more than once
(winning in 1995 and 1997). Past winners of this contest, which was
established for the purpose of stimulating thought and encouraging work on
gravitation, include Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose. Professor Myers is
also a fellow of the Cosmology and Gravity Program of the Canadian
Institute For Advance Research, a uniquely Canadian enterprise devoted to
networking top-flight researchers from across the country. From 2001 to
2005, he was a founding member on the scientific advisory board of the
Banff International Research Station, a facility devoted to hosting
workshops and meetings in the mathematical sciences and related areas.
Professor Myers currently serves on the editorial boards of the research
journals: Annals of Physics and Journal of High Energy Physics. In 2006,
an independent review of Perimeter Institute by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) noted his contributions to
the early success of Perimeter where, starting in 2001, he was among the
original team of senior researchers who helped lay the foundation. Though
his current activities remain centered at Perimeter Institute, Professor
Myers remains active in both teaching and supervising graduate students
with his cross-appointment as a Full Professor in the physics department
at the University of Waterloo.
About Perimeter Institute:
Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is an independent,
non-profit, scientific research and educational outreach organization
where international scientists cluster to push the limits of our
understanding of physical laws and calculate new ideas about the very
essence of space, time, matter and information. The award-winning
research centre provides a multi-disciplinary environment to foster
research in areas of Cosmology, Particle Physics, Quantum Foundations,
Quantum Gravity, Quantum Information and Superstring Theory. The
Institute, located in Waterloo, Ontario, also provides a wide array of
educational outreach activities for students, teachers and members of the
general public across the country and beyond in order to share the joy of
scientific research, discovery and innovation. Additional information can
be found online at www.perimeterinstitute.ca
Contact:
John Matlock
Director of External Relations and Outreach
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
519-569-7600 ext, 5030
jmatlock@perimeterinstitute.ca
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