Associate professor Darren Grant receives the Faculty of Science Research Award from Research Advisor Fred West, Research Advisor with the Faculty of Science, during the Celebration of Excellence on May 2, 2016.
Darren Grant, associate professor of physics, has received the 2016 Faculty of Science Research Award.
Grant is one of the leaders of the emerging field of neutrino astronomy. He designs new astroparticle physics detectors and develops new data analysis techniques, applying these tools to the study of neutrinos, and how they can be used to examine the universe, as well as the search for the mysterious dark matter.
As a graduate student working at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, Grant provided a key piece that enabled the analysis proving that neutrinos oscillate-a significant discovery that earned the SNO collaboration not only the Nobel Prize for Art McDonald, but also the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
Grant's participation in SNO and now the IceCube collaboration in Antarctica has been crucial in establishing a world-leading astroparticle physics program here at the University of Alberta.
Grant, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Astroparticle Physics, was featured in a 2015 segment of the award-winning radio program Quirks & Quarks.