Faculty Membership

Neil Banerjee

Associate Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Stable isotope biogeochemistry; Microbial alteration of modern and ancient oceanic crust; Evidence for early life on Earth; Formation and evolution of oceanic crust; Geochemical cycling at mid-ocean ridges; Formation of massive sulfide deposits at mid-ocean ridges; The origin and emplacement of ophiolites; Astrobiology.

Pauline Barmby

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Galactic and Stellar Processes
Biography: Pauline Barmby is an observational astrophysicist, studying stars and star formation in nearby galaxies. With her team she develops new tools and techniques to combine data from ground-and space-based telescopes to understand how stars, gas, dust, dark matter, and black holes in galaxies fit together. Before joining Western in 2007, she was a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, on the team responsible for the Spitzer Space Telescope’s IRAC camera. Barmby was the co-chair of the panel that developed the Canadian Astronomical Society’s 2020 Long Range Plan.

Shantanu Basu

Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Galactic and Stellar Processes
Biography: Shantanu Basu is an expert in studies of the early stages of star formation and protoplanetary disk formation and evolution. He is one of the originators of the Migrating Embryo Model for protoplanetary disk evolution, which is a unified scenario for angular momentum transport, binary star and giant planet formation, and the formation of ejected freely floating low mass objects. He has recently also contributed to understanding the formation of supermassive black holes at high redshift. Shantanu has organized a series of international winter schools on astronomy that had a special focus on star and planet formation. In 2013, Asteroid 277883 Basu was named after him by the International Astronomical Union. Shantanu has authored the textbook Essential Astrophysics: Interstellar Medium to Stellar Remnants, published by CRC Press in 2021.

Jerry Battista

Professor Emeritus, Department of Oncology

Research Interests / Specializations: Medical Biophysics and Space Health
Biography: Dr. Battista completed his Ph.D. degree at the University of Toronto (1977). His thesis dealt with “Compton Scatter Tomography” for 3D imaging of the human body. As a post-doctoral resident, he gained clinical physics experience at Princess Margaret Hospital, and developed a strong interest in computational radiation dosimetry through heterogeneous tissue. In 1979, Jerry relocated to the Cross Cancer Institute, University of Alberta and developed one of the first “3D” treatment planning systems for image-guided cancer radiotherapy, using ‘convolution/superposition’ algorithms. From 1988-2017, Dr. Battista directed Physics Research at the London Regional Cancer Program, with appointments to Oncology, Medical Biophysics, Medical Imaging, Biomedical Engineering Program, and Physics & Astronomy. He became Chair of the Medical Biophysics Department at Western (2004-2015). Research interests included 3D dose computation and measurements in gels using optical CT scans for readout, and optimization of adaptive CT-guided radiotherapy. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles and co-authored major research grants in collaborations with industry. His interests have expanded to the application of solar and galactic radiation models to assess the health risks to astronauts engaged in future lunar and Mars missions. Jerry has received the Kirkby Award from the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and Gold Medal from the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP) for lifetime contributions

Nigel Blamey

Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences

Peter Brown

Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Small bodies in the solar system, including- • Meteoroids - their origin and evolution • Radar, optical and infrasonic measurements of meteors • Meteorite source regions and large bodies interacting with Earth’s atmosphere • Infrasonic and seismic detection of bolide airbursts Career Totals: • Papers in Refereed Journals: 190 • Papers in Nature: 6 (2 covers) • Papers in Science: 2 (2 covers) • Abstracts, Presentations to Professional Meetings: 94 • Books edits/Chapters: 21 • Full Technical Reports: 13 • h-index: 51

Jan Cami

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Galactic and Stellar Processes
Biography: Jan Cami (11/11/1972, Aalst, Belgium) is Professor at Western University (Ontario, Canada) where he also serves as Director of the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory. He is also a Research Associate at the SETI Institute (Mountain View, California). Jan developed a passion for astronomy as a kid, stimulated by his dad who was a physics and chemistry teacher. He joined the local amateur astronomy club at the age of 12 and started discovering the Universe with a small used telescope and lots of books. After two MSc degrees and a PhD that involved moving to Portugal and the Netherlands, he became a Fellow of the National Research Council at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, where he later would also join the SETI Institute as a Research Associate. In December 2006, he moved to London, Ontario to become an Assistant Professor at Western. His research interests and scientific contributions are mostly focused on studying gas and dust around dying stars and in the interstellar medium. In 2010, he discovered the fullerenes C60 (“buckyballs”) and C70 in a peculiar planetary nebula. To date, these are the largest molecular species ever identified in space. He also leads an international team to crack open the problem of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs), a set of hundreds of mysterious absorption lines that are caused by interstellar molecules whose identity remains mostly unknown. He uses ground-based telescopes (VLT, Gemini, ...) as well as space telescopes (ISO, Spitzer, Hubble, JWST) and airborne observatories (e.g. SOFIA). In addition to research and teaching at the University, Jan is also actively involved in science outreach. He loves sharing his passion and enthusiasm for astronomy and science in general – with visitors at the Hume Cronyn Observatory, during (public) lectures or while chatting on local radio stations. He is the main organizer for Science Rendezvous at Western – a large science festival. For his efforts, the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) awarded him the 2019 Qilak Award for astronomy communications, public education and outreach. Trying to fulfill other childhood dreams, he made it to the last round in the astronaut selection process of the European Space Agency in 2008 and attended the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Center in 2011. He holds a private pilot license, loves exploring the underwater world while scuba diving, and is known to turn up the volume when playing guitar or piano.

Margaret Campbell-Brown

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Earth Observation, Monitoring, and Protection
Biography: My research is on meteors; specifically the risk they pose to spacecraft and their connection with asteroids and comets, primordial building blocks of the solar system.

Isha DeCoito

Associate Professor, Education

Research Interests / Specializations: STEM and Space Education

Roberta Flemming

Associate Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Materials
Biography: Dr. Roberta Flemming is a Professor in Earth Sciences and the Director of the Micro X-ray Diffraction Facility at Western. She is a mineralogist by training. Her research uses minerals as interpretive and predictive tools to reveal past and present processes on Earth and other planetary bodies, including the moon and Mars. Her research program involves innovative applications of micro-XRD and NMR spectroscopy, and allied methods, to study Earth and planetary materials. She uses Solid State NMR to quantify minerals as recorders of temperature in the early solar system and terrestrial rocks, by making systematic observations of crystal structure and cation distribution (order-disorder) for key mineral suites. She uses in situ XRD and EPMA to correlate crystal structural parameters to chemical composition in minerals, including olivine in meteorites, to aid in their classification. She is pioneering the development of in situ XRD to quantify and calibrate minerals as recorders of crystal deformation in Earth and planetary materials. She is also leading a multidisciplinary multi-institutional team, with Canadian Space Agency funding, to develop a “Miniaturized In-situ XRD for Mineralogical Characterization of Planetary Surfaces” with a focus on Mars.

Sarah Gallagher

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Black Holes
Biography: Dr. Sarah Gallagher is the Director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at Western University (Western Space) where she has been a professor of physics and astronomy since 2008. From 2018 to 2022, she served as the Science Advisor to the President of the Canadian Space Agency. Her research focuses on windy supermassive black holes and interacting galaxies. Dr. Gallagher regularly talks to the public about astronomy, space science and science policy.

Wayne Hocking

Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Atmospheric physics: Mesosphere, Stratosphere and Troposphere Tormado research Meteor Physics and upper atmospheric winds

George Knopf

Professor, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Research Interests / Specializations: Material engineering and synthesis, advanced fabrication technologies, and engineering design
Biography: George K. Knopf is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and the Director of the Engineering in Medicine collaborative specialization at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. His research interests include bioelectronics, biosensors, laser materials processing, flexible optical sheets, imaging technology and engineering design. Past contributions include a patented technology for unconstrained surface geometry measurement [USA patent 6,542,249] and a novel bio-electronic imaging array [USA Patent No. 7,573,024]. Dr. Knopf’s current research work involves the development of degradable carbon-based printed electronic sensors and microdevices for a variety of the "Internet of Things" (IoT) applications. Over the past two decades, he has trained more than 60 research HQP (domestic and international) including post-doctoral fellows, doctoral candidates, masters students, and undergraduate research assistants. The international HQP come from diverse countries such as Brazil, India, Israel, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Tunisia and USA. In addition, Dr. Knopf has acted as a technical reviewer for numerous academic journals, conferences, and granting agencies (domestic and international) and co-chaired several international conferences. Recently, he co-authored the books Biofunctionalized Photoelectric Transducers for Sensing and Actuation (SPIE Press 2017) and Light Driven Micromachines (CRC Press 2018), and co-edited the research volume Smart Biosensor Technology (CRC Press 2019).

Martin Houde

Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Canada Research Chair in Star Formation
Biography: I am an astrophysicist who is mostly concerned with understanding the basic physical processes at play in the interstellar medium using both observations and theory. I mostly focus on radiation-matter interactions and have recently ported quantum mechanical phenomena tested in laboratories to the astrophysical context. Current research projects applied Dicke’s superradiance to explain fast radiation flares in maser-hosting regions and fast radio bursts (FRBs).

Fred Longstaffe

Distinguished University Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Stable Isotope Science Director, Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science

Phil McCausland

Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Materials
Biography: Dr. Phil McCausland has a research program and group that pursues Earth history and its Solar System context, along several exploration themes. Paleogeography of the Earth: determining the Earth’s Precambrian-Paleozoic paleogeography via paleomagnetic and other techniques, as a context for understanding extreme paleoclimates, burgeoning life, and as a tracer of global geodynamics. Tectonics of accretionary orogens and mountain belts: paleomagnetic tracking of the collision, obduction and lateral motion of crustal fragments –terranes– to investigate the mechanisms of their assembly into mountain belts (Applalachians-Caledonides, Canadian Cordillera, Central Asia). Shock metamorphism and parent body processes in the Early Solar System: investigation of the mineralogy and petrology of meteorites as recorders of impact shock deformation, redox processes and small body evolution. Petrophysical properties, mineralogy and mineral exploration: investigation of mineralogy, density, porosity, magnetic, electrical and acoustic properties of ore deposits and their host rocks, as a guide for mineral exploration.

Stan Metchev

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy, and CRC in Exoplanets

Research Interests / Specializations: Galactic and Stellar Processes
Biography: My Institute-related research spans two principal research areas. 1. I research brown dwarfs and exoplanetary systems to create a context for the existence of our own solar system and its one habitable planet. Brown dwarfs in particular, as more massive analogues to giant planets, are a key focus of my work. My work on brown dwarfs and exoplanets uses space- and ground-based telescopes, such as the Hubble, Spitzer (retired), and James Webb Space Telescopes, the ground-based Gemini Observatory 8.2 m telescopes, and an array of smaller ground-based facilities. I am also the Co-PI on a proposed Canadian space mission to discover and characterize exoplanets. The POET mission has had a Science Maturation Study and an on-going Space Technology Development Program award funding from the Canadian Space Agency. POET is also endorsed as one of the top priorities for small Canadian space missions by the 2020 Long Range Plan for the Canadian Astronomical Society. 2. I have commenced a survey of the solar system outskirts, using a novel fast-time domain implementation of the stellar occultation technique. This will for the first time reveal the expected vast population of kilometre-sized comets in the solar system Kuiper Belt. Analogous to the debris disks of other planetary systems, the Kuiper Belt carries an imprint of the dynamical history of our solar system. To this end, I have commissioned a CFI-funded array of three 50 cm rapid-imaging telescopes - the Colibri Telescope Array - at Elginfield Observatory. In addition to commencing regular science in 2022, the Colibri Telescope Array also serves as a testing ground for novel imaging techniques, such as for video monitoring of artificial satellites, or with commercial off-the shelf cameras (visible-light or short-wavelength infrared).

Catherine Neish

Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Surfaces and Impact cratering
Biography: My research interests focus on the use of orbital radar observations to study the geology of planetary surfaces, with a particular focus on processes related to impact cratering. To pursue my interest in planetary radar, I am involved in several spacecraft missions. I am a Co-Investigator on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (LRO) Mini-RF instrument, and was an associate member of the Cassini RADAR team. I am also a Co-Investigator on NASA's Dragonfly mission, a rotorcraft lander that will characterize Titan's habitability and prebiotic environment.

Valerie Oosterveld

Professor, Faculty of Law

Biography: Valerie Oosterveld is a full Professor at Western University's Faculty of Law. She is an expert in public international law. Her research and writing focus on two sub-fields of international law: international criminal law and outer space law. She has taught outer space law for 17 years, first as a module of Public International Law, and now as a full standalone course. Her research on outer space law includes: international environmental space law; space mining; state responsibility in space; use of force in space; peace and security in space; a feminist analysis of space law, and Canadian space law. Valerie is a faculty member of Western’s Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, and Acting Director of Western’s Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. She is a member of the Canadian Partnership for International Justice. Before joining Western Law, Valerie served in the Legal Affairs Bureau of Global Affairs Canada. In this role, she provided legal advice on international criminal law, including issues related to armed conflict. She earned her JSD and LLM from Columbia Law School, her LLB from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and her BSocSc from the University of Ottawa.

Els Peeters

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Carbonaceous molecules and dust (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon molecules, fullerenes, carbonaceous dust) galactic and extra-galactic star forming regions the interstellar and circumstellar medium
Biography: Els Peeters is a Belgian astrophysicist. She obtained her Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and spent several years at the NASA Ames Research Center before becoming professor in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Western Ontario. Her research focusses on large molecules and dust in space. She is co-leading the James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science program: “Radiative feedback from massive stars”.

Joshua Pearce

Professor & John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation

Research Interests / Specializations: The use of open source appropriate technology (OSAT) to find collaborative solutions to problems in sustainability and to reduce poverty.
Biography: Joshua M. Pearce is the John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation at the Thompson Centre for Engineering Leadership & Innovation. He holds appointments at Ivey Business School and the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Western University. He runs the Free Appropriate Sustainability Technology research group. His research concentrates on the use of open source appropriate technology (OSAT) to find collaborative solutions to problems in sustainability and to reduce poverty. His research spans areas of engineering of solar photovoltaic technology, open hardware, and distributed recycling and additive manufacturing (DRAM) using RepRap 3-D printing, but also includes policy and economics. His space related research includes development of alternative foods, which can be manufactured in space and other remote regions when all conventional agriculture is not possible.

Rajni Patel

Distinguished University Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Interests / Specializations: Exploration Technologies, and Advanced Robotics and Control
Biography: Dr. Patel’s research is concerned with the design and application of advanced robotic systems and has been motivated by space and medical applications. The aspects of Dr. Patel’s work that are most relevant to the activities of Western Space are as follows: (1) Design of Advanced Robotic Systems: Dr. Patel has made pioneering contributions in the areas of kinematically redundant (dexterous) robot manipulators and those with structural flexibility. Such features are present in several robotic systems, e.g., CSA’s Canadarm-2 and SPDM, and in surgical robots that involve the use of thin flexible tools such as for laparoscopic surgery and percutaneous interventions. As part of this research, three fully operational prototypes of advanced redundant robotic systems were developed and used in three projects under CSA’s Strategic Technologies in Automation and Robotics (STEAR) Program in collaboration with Bombardier Inc. These projects were aimed at developing and implementing state-of-the-art theoretical and practical methodologies in several key areas in space robotics. (2) Teleoperation, Haptics, and Latency in Robotics-based Medical Applications: This work was motivated by the advent of teleoperated (leader-follower) robotic systems (such as the da Vinci) for minimally invasive surgery and the absence of haptic (force) feedback to the surgeon. The research has focused on teleoperation under various conditions, both with and without haptic feedback. A particular aspect of the work that is relevant to space and long-distance terrestrial applications is teleoperation in the presence of time delays. In this context, research has been done at CSTAR to study the effect of latency on performing surgery using a specially-equipped teleoperated robotic system operating over a dedicated network involving a distance of 3,000 km between the leader and the follower robots.

Larry Plummer

Associate Professor, Ivey School of Business

Research Interests / Specializations: Entrepreneurship
Biography: Lawrence (Larry) Plummer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Ivey in the Entrepreneurship group. He earned his Ph.D. in strategy and entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Previously, Professor Plummer was an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the University of Oklahoma's Price College of Business and an assistant professor at Clemson University's College of Business and Behavioral Science. In 2004, Professor Plummer was named a management research fellow of the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, Germany. His prior experience includes two consulting practices founded with his wife as well as international consulting and management in the aerospace, environmental, and television/film sectors. Plummer's research focuses on new venture creation, growth, and performance. Much of his current research focuses on the geography of entrepreneurship through the lens of spatial economics including economic geography, regional/urban economics, location theory, and spatial econometrics. Professor Plummer's research is most concerned with the location choices entrepreneurs make in starting their businesses and how spatial competition between firms drives the survival and performance of new ventures. His research appears in Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Organizational Research Methods, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Small Business Economics, Annals of Regional Science, and Production and Operations Management.

Jayshri Sabarinathan

Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Interests / Specializations: Exploration Technologies
Biography: Dr. Jayshri Sabarinathan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty member with the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at the University of Western Ontario. She was previously the Associate Director of Training (2019-2022) with the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at the University of Western Ontario. She obtained her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research expertise is in developing novel nano-photonic sensors and miniature remote sensing instrumentation. She has extensive experience on several collaborative projects with industry and academic partners. This research has resulted in three patents for micro photonic-sensors and multi-spectral camera innovations with practical applications in precision agriculture and geology. She is involved in several Canadian Space Agency (CSA) funded projects related to remote optical instrumentation development on lunar and mars rovers. She is the PI of the CSA funded Western University-Nunavut Arctic College CubeSat Project Ukpik-1. She is one of the co-founders of new space startup company LightSail Ltd. She is also an OSA (Optica) senior member.

Robert Shcherbakov

Associate Professor, Earth Sciences

Biography: Robert received his PhD from Cornell University (USA) in 2002. He was also a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Computational Science and Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Currently he is a faculty member in the Department of Earth Sciences, Western University (London, Ontario). His research interests are concerned with understanding the physics and statistics of earthquake processes. He focuses in developing statistical approaches for earthquake forecasting using Bayesian methods. In addition, he is interested in various aspects of relaxation phenomena and particularly in the occurrence of aftershocks. He is currently involved in several projects related to the studies of induced and mining seismicity in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Sean Shieh

Associate Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Processes
Biography: My research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary, and aim to (1) understand the structure, composition, elasticity and dynamics of planetary interiors (2) explore the volatile phases (H, C, N, S) inside planetary bodies, (3) study the strength, texture and deformation of silicates, oxides and metal alloys at high pressure and (4) investigate the spectroscopy, thermal conductivity and electronic structure of materials under extreme environments. To reach these goals, I use the diamond-anvil cell (DAC) high pressure apparatus to study materials (silicates, oxides, metals and volatiles) under extreme P-T conditions that span the entire depth range of terrestrial planetary interiors. Much of my work examines sample sizes in the range of 10-100 micrometer and therefore I utilize synchrotron facilities at Advanced Photon Source (APS in Chicago), National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS II in Brookhaven, New York), SOLEIL synchrotron (France) and SPring-8 (Japan) to study structure, deformation, elasticity and X-ray spectroscopy of materials. In addition, I measure spectroscopic behaviors of materials at ambient and high pressure-temperature conditions using a custom-built micro-Raman system at Western U and IR at NSLS II.

Kevin Shoemaker

Professor, Kinesiology

Bob Sica

Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Processes , Earth Observation, Monitoring, and Protection

Aaron Sigut

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Galactic and Stellar Processes
Biography: I am a stellar astronomer primarily interested in massive stars. I obtained my BSc from Western in 1988 and my PhD from the University of Toronto in 1995. I was then an NSERC post-doctoral scholar at the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, before returning to Western in 1999 as a faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. My research mainly involves high-performance computation. Massive stars, often called "OB stars," are several times more massive than our sun and explode as supernova at the end of their lives. My research focuses on computational modelling of the spectra of massive stars. In a spectrum, the light from the star is spread out into its component colours by passage through a spectrograph, and the resultant spectrum contains important clues to the physical conditions (temperature, pressure), composition, and motion (through the Doppler effect) of the emitting gas. One particular class of massive stars that I study extensively are the "Be" or B-emisison line stars. These massive stars rotate extremely rapidly, with rotation periods of just a day or two (as compared to about a month for the sun). This rapid rotation ejects material into a thin disk around the star's equator. My computational work focuses on predicting the spectra of these systems in order to determine why rapid rotation leads to the ejection of the disk, currently an unsolved problem. Recently I have also been using the spectra of Be stars to determine the orientation of their rotation (or spin) axes in space. Massive stars, such as the Be stars, form in clusters via a complex interplay of gravity, turbulence, radiation, rotation, and magnetic fields. My work can be used to detect the alignment of stellar spins in a cluster of stars containing Be stars, and the level of alignment can provide clues to the formation process of massive stars in clusters. I currently have two PhD students working under my supervision, one working in the area of machine learning as applied to the spectra of massive stars and one working on Ae stars, cooler analogues to the Be stars discussed above.

Maxwell Smith

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences

Biography: Dr. Maxwell Smith is a bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Professor Smith is also an Associate Director of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and has appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Schulich Interfaculty Program in Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. His research is primarily in the area of public health ethics, with a focus on infectious disease ethics and the ethical requirements of health equity and social justice for public health policy, practice, and research.

Viktor Staroverov

Professor, Chemistry

Biography: Viktor N. Staroverov received his undergraduate education from Belarus State University (1994), an MSc from Brock University (1997), and a PhD from Indiana University (2001). Afterwards, he held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Rice University. Dr. Staroverov came to Western in 2006, where he is now a Professor in the Department of Chemistry. His research interests include method development in the area of electronic structure theory (density-functional and ab initio techniques), computational quantum chemistry, and its applications to space research.

Elizabeth Steyn

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law

Research Interests / Specializations: Indigenous theory; legal anthropology; natural resources law; public international law; comparative law
Biography: Elizabeth Steyn is Cassels Brock Fellow and Assistant Professor in Mining and Finance Law at Western University. At the Faculty of Law, she leads the Program in Mining Law, Finance and Sustainability, including the Graduate Diploma in Mining Law, Finance and Sustainability. Her expertise in sustainable and responsible mining industry practices extends to the extraterrestrial realm. At Western Space, she studies space resource exploitation issues, sustainability, IEL, and Indigenous perspectives pertaining to space.

Phil Stooke

Associate Professor, Department of Geography

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Processes
Biography: I am a planetary cartographer and a historian of lunar and planetary exploration. My earlier work was on mapping asteroids and other non-spherical objects. More recently I have worked on the history of lunar and planetary mapping and a detailed record of exploration of the Moon and Mars. I have been involved in searches for crashed or landed spacecraft on the Moon and Mars, notably impacts sites of Chang'e 1, SMART-1 and Apollo lunar module upper stages.

Adam Sirek

Adjunct Professor, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry

Research Interests / Specializations: Family Medicine
Biography: Dr. Sirek is a physician and adjunct research professor at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University. He is currently engaged in teaching undergraduate and graduate medical learners as well as providing full time clinical care in the community and hospital setting. Dr. Sirek's research interests include advanced technologies to enhance care provision - particularily the use of augmented and mixed reality with artificial intelligence. While his primary focus is for space-related healthcare uses, many of the technologies have application to Canadian populations such as remote, operational and rural communities.

Kim Tait

Associate Professor, Earth Sciences - University of Toronto

Research Interests / Specializations: -New mineral descriptions and nomenclature of minerals -High pressure mineralogy in meteorites

Keith Thompson

Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Family Medicine

Research Interests / Specializations: Remote and Rural Medicine
Biography: Dr. Thompson is a London Ontario based family physician, graduate of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University and awarded Fellowship Canadian College Family Practice in 2005. Chief Medical Officer for Nuralogix. He is Board Certified Medical Affairs specialist. He is Adjunct Faculty Professor with both the departments of Family Medicine and Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at Western University in London Ontario. He also serves at Western as Co-investigator on 2 virtual care studies and is Medical Mentor for the Medical Innovation Fellowship program at WORLDiscoveries. He was one of the initial Canadian Physicians hired to consult with the Teladoc/BestDoctors Canada start-up team in February of 2018 and worked as CMO for iTelemed- a telemedicine startup in London Ontario, prior to his recent appointment with Nuralogix. He is a current working Group member lead for IEEE SA telehealth Industry Connections, IEEE New Jersey Coast SIGHT(special interest Group for Humanitarian technology) program Member, Ehealth WG executive member World Congress of Family Doctors (WONCA), member of Association for Corporate Growth Toronto Chapter, member C.D. Howe Institute and Advisory Board Member for Health Technologies Without Borders

Livio Tornabene

Adjunct Professor, Earth Sciences

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Processes
Biography: Dr. Livio L. Tornabene is an Adjunct Research Professor at Western University , coming from the Centre for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian Institution after serving on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE; onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) operations and science team and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) science team at the University of Arizona for 4 years. Prior to that, in May 2007, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences where he was a junior science team member of two active Mars missions: the Thermal Emission Imaging System onboard Mars Odyssey and the Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity). Livio also has a M.S. from the University of South Florida (Tampa) and a B.S. from the University of Florida (Gainesville), both in Geological Sciences.

Ana Luisa Trejos

Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Interests / Specializations: Wearable technology
Biography: Ana Luisa Trejos is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering at Western University, and the Tier-2 Canada Research Chair in Wearable Mechatronics. She has expertise in the design, development and testing of medical mechatronic systems, leading her to establish the Wearable Biomechatronics Laboratory in 2013. Her current research is dedicated to the design of wearable mechatronic devices for upper body motion assistance and performance assessment. The focus is on designing novel sensing/actuation components, creating models based on sensed biosignals, and developing intelligent control systems.

James Voogt

Department Chair, Department of Geography

Biography: I am an urban climatologist who specializes in the measurement and modelling of urban surface temperatures. I am particularly interested in the remote measurement of urban surface temperatures from ground, airborne and space-borne platforms for understanding the three dimensional surface temperature of cities, thermal anisotropy over urban areas, the use of remotely sensed surface temperatures in urban climate model evaluation, and spatial variations in the heat impacts on urban residents. I am an editorial board member for Remote Sensing of Environment.

Jinfei Wang

Professor, Department of Geography

Research Interests / Specializations: Planetary Processes
Biography: Jinfei Wang received the B.S. and M.Sc. degrees from Peking University, Beijing, China, and the Ph.D. degree from University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. She is currently Full Professor with the Department of Geography and Environment, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Her research interests include methods for information extraction from high resolution remotely sensed imagery, land use and land cover monitoring in urban environments and agricultural crop monitoring using multiplatform multispectral, hyperspectral, Lidar, radar and unmanned aerial vehicle data, mapping galaxies using machine learning methods, automated extraction of craters on the Moon and Mars.

Paul Wiegert

Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Research Interests / Specializations: Galactic and Stellar Processes
Biography: Paul Wiegert is a Canadian astronomer whose research interests extend from the smallest bodies in our own Solar System -asteroids, meteors and moons- to the systems of planets that orbit other stars, known as 'exoplanets'. Asteroids are perhaps best known for the hazards they might pose to our planet, but very few asteroids are dangerous. Most are harmless and some even peacefully share the Earth's orbit with us. Asteroids also contain the oldest material in our Solar System, and are among the next targets slated for human space exploration. Exoplanets are one of the newest fields in astronomy. Though unknown only a few decades ago, we now know of thousands of planetary systems, many very different from our own, and each with a unique story to tell. Professor Wiegert obtained his PhD in Astronomy from the University of Toronto in 1996 and worked at York University and Queen's before starting at the University of Western Ontario, where he is now a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a member of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. He is best known for his work related to the discovery of the Earth's first co-orbital asteroid sometimes (incorrectly) called 'Earth's second Moon'; and the Earth's first Trojan asteroid. He and his research group have discovered over 70 asteroids and counting.