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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: Click here to view our Sources Listing Areas of expertise: Atomic Nuclei - Basic Research - Computing Science Studies - Cosmology - 4841.htm" title="View other experts in "Einstein, Albert"">Einstein, Albert - Mathematics/Mathematical Sciences - Mathematics & Computer Science - Nuclear Physics - Nuclear Science - Particle Physics - Physics - Physics Studies - Pure Science - Quantum Computing - Research - Research Facilities - Research Institutes - Science - Science Camps - Science Education - Science Education for Teachers - Science/Public Awareness - Science Resources - Science & Society - Science Teaching - Scientific Computing - Scientific Research - Space Science Research - Subatomic Research - Theoretical Physics Sources |