The Peter G. Martin Award for mid-career achievement was established in 2009 thanks to a generous gift from Peter Martin, a former President of CASCA and Professor at the University of Toronto.
The Martin Award is considered every second year, for presentation in odd-numbered years, to a mid-career astronomer in recognition of significant contributions to astronomical research. To be eligible, the nominee must be a member of CASCA in good standing, and a Canadian astronomer or an astronomer working in Canada. The nominee will normally have received his or her PhD degree between 10 and 20 years previously; allowances will be made for extended leaves of up to two years, e.g. maternity, paternity or parental leaves, medical leaves, etc. However, no individual may be nominated for both the Richer (early career) and Martin (mid-career) prizes in the same year.
The recipient shall be invited to address the Society at its Annual General Meeting. The nomination package must be submitted entirely in electronic form to the Chair of the Awards committee and should consist of:
- A joint letter of nomination (see nomination guidelines) signed by at least two members of CASCA in good standing;
- The CV of the nominee;
- Three external letters of support (e.g., from international experts in the nominee’s field). No letter should exceed two pages in length.
The deadline for nominations for the 2023 Award is 15 January 2023.
2021 Peter G. Martin Award
CASCA is pleased to announce Dr. Sara Ellison as the recipient of the 2021 Martin Award. Dr. Ellison obtained her PhD from Cambridge University, and is currently a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria. Dr. Ellison is an international leader in both the study of high redshift QSO absorption lines and galaxy mergers in the nearby universe. She displays an outstanding breadth in her research. As an observer Dr. Ellison has led observing programs across the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to optical to radio wavelengths. As a theorist, she has complemented her observational work with simulations on a variety of length scales and cutting edge techniques such as machine learning. Her research is of the highest impact, garnering more than 11,500 total citations, with many of her works on galaxy metallicity and galaxy interactions/mergers considered definitive treatments in the field. Dr. Ellison received the Annie Jump Cannon Award from the American Astronomical Society in 2004, the University of Victoria Faculty of Science Award in Research Excellence in 2009, the Royal Society of Canada’s Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics in 2014, and the REACH Silver Medal for Research Excellence in 2020.
CASCA is delighted to recognize Dr. Ellison’s achievements with this award.
| 2019 |  |
Bryan Gaensler |
Radio Astronomy, Cosmic Magnetism |
| 2017 |  |
Ingrid Stairs |
Pulsars and general relativity |
| 2015 |  |
Laura Ferrarese |
Massive Galaxies, Globular Clusters, and Everything In Between |
| 2013 |  |
Victoria Kaspi |
‘Grand Unification’ of Neutron Stars |
| 2011 |  |
Roberto Abraham |
Some thoughts on galaxies and graduate students |
| 2009 |  |
René Doyon |
On Infrared Instrumentation and Searching for Pale Red Dots |
