CASCA is pleased to announce Dr. Ziggy Pleunis as the recipient of the 2021 J. S. Plaskett Medal for the most outstanding doctoral thesis in astronomy or astrophysics. Dr. Pleunis completed his PhD thesis in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Victoria Kaspi at McGill University, and will soon be moving to the University of Toronto as a Dunlap Fellow. His thesis, titled “Fast radio burst detection and morphology with the CHIME telescope” represents a set of groundbreaking contributions to the fast-emerging field of Fast Radio Burst (FRB) astronomy. Dr. Pleunis has contributed to all aspects of the CHIME telescope’s FRB project, from instrumentation to software to observation to analysis to science interpretation. Beyond CHIME, he has also made multiple breakthroughs using the LOw Frequency Array (LOFAR), whether in the discovery of a low-frequency FRB or the study of millisecond pulsars.
CASCA is delighted to recognize Dr. Pleunis’s achievements with this award. Additionally, we would like to recognize the exceptional theses of all the finalists: Dr. Ryan Cloutier, Dr. Maan Hani, Dr. Eric Koch, Dr. Ian Roberts, and Dr. Kaja Rotermund.
