Among the stars: Meet the Canadian women making an impact in astronomy and physics

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They’re few, but mighty: women represent about 15 per cent of scientists in Canadian astronomy and related physics fields, but their contributions make them a powerful force. Here are three who are winning awards and mentoring the next generation.

A Canadian first

In January, Kathryn McWilliams, PhD, became the first Canadian to receive an honorary fellowship in geophysics from the U.K.-based Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

“I wasn’t expecting it at all; it was very surprising and humbling,” says McWilliams, a professor of physics and engineering physics at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

The RAS represents scientists in disciplines including astronomy, geophysics and space science. Its coveted fellowships recognize scientists outside the U.K. who have made significant contributions in their fields.

“What I do is commonly called ‘space science’ — the science of the space between the Earth and the sun. We’re trying to understand Earth’s space environment, so it’s kind of a study of weather and how conditions in space created by the sun’s activity affect us,” explains McWilliams.

McWilliams directs SuperDARN Canada, part of an international effort that uses radar to learn more about the Earth’s upper atmosphere. As a summer student in 1992, McWilliams helped build the first radar site, and today, she chairs the International SuperDARN Collaboration, which involves researchers from 10 countries.

“It works like a police speed radar trap: we send out a signal into the atmosphere up about 250 kilometers, just below the space station. The moving electrically-charged particles up there modify our signal, and we get an echo back. Then, we can look at how the signal changes to determine how fast those particles are moving.”

“Our laboratory is practically the size of the solar system, and we work with people all over the world, because no one group could have enough funding or enough money to have all the instruments needed to answer these questions. I love that it’s a collaborative type of research field.”

Throughout her studies and career, McWilliams was often the only woman in the room, but that never deterred her.

“It can be frustrating, but I just kept pushing ahead and taking advantage of opportunities,” she says.

“Along the way, I’ve had good allies. Things have been improving; someone starting a PhD now would have a different experience than I had decades ago. In order to move ahead, you have to prioritize and make your path.”

A star is born

In 2017, Quebec-born Laurie Rousseau-Nepton became the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a PhD in astrophysics. After graduating from Université de Laval, she became the resident astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. Rousseau-Nepton is also the principal investigator for SIGNALS, a large-scale observation program using the cutting-edge telescope to investigate more than 50,000 star-forming regions around the Milky Way.

The project, which includes an interdisciplinary team of about 70 experts, covers many fields of extragalactic astrophysics, says Rousseau-Nepton, who got involved as a summer student helping to build a camera for the project.

“I came here for the first flight when the instrument was installed on the telescope, which was exciting,” she says.

Stars form everywhere in galaxies, in the Milky Way and in many neighbouring environments, explains Rousseau-Nepton. Depending on how and where they’re formed, they evolve differently.

“In astronomy, we do surveys to try to tackle questions that we don’t have answers for yet. Star formation is such an important phenomenon because it drives the evolution of the whole universe,” she explains.

I’m driven by challenges, and I think I was born to do this.”

“Before, we didn’t have the tools to study star-forming regions around the Milky Way deeply. Now, we can see in great detail what’s going on, and by studying thousands of them in different environments and areas we’re trying to figure out how they change and what they will become.”

When it wraps this summer, SIGNALS will create the largest database of its kind. Rousseau-Nepton enjoyed collaborating with several female interns during this project.

“By mentoring them, I’m making sure they gain the best knowledge and tools. I was the only woman student in my group for a while, so I know how it can feel, and I share my experiences with them,” she says.

“I love my job. I wake up every day thinking, ‘My job is to look into the universe and try to figure things out; isn’t that the best?’ I’m driven by challenges, and I think I was born to do this.”

Exploring faraway planets

As a child, Brenda Matthews loved science and looking at the night sky, but she didn’t plan on merging the two as a career until her final undergraduate year at McMaster University, when she met Christine Wilson, a female astronomer who had just joined the physics department.

“Christine was such a source of inspiration to me that I decided to pursue graduate studies in astronomy at the University of Calgary,” says Matthews, who returned to McMaster to do her PhD with Wilson.

“Having a female supervisor helped me get to the end of my doctorate and decide to continue, because that’s one of the stages where women leave.”

Today, Matthews is an astronomer at the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Victoria, B.C. — part of the National Research Council of Canada.

Matthews researches planetary systems beyond the solar system, studying debris discs — the equivalent of our comet and asteroid belts around other stars – to see where planets might be located.

“To detect planets that are further away, we can take an image of the system to detect that planet, but we’re limited in the mass of the planet we can detect,” she explains.

“So, if you want to detect Neptune or Saturn at their positions around other stars, you can place constraints on planets like that by studying their debris discs. We detect them with optical telescopes or near-infrared telescopes, or through emission: Because all the little comets and asteroids can undergo collisions and generate fine solids, we can detect those in the infrared and at longer wavelengths.”

Matthews says astronomy differs from other sciences because it’s so accessible and visually engaging. Many of us can appreciate seeing the night sky or stunning images from the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s important to her to mentor other women pursuing this field.

“It’s a great job, and if you have a passion for it, you should be able to pursue it,” says Matthews, adding that her organization recently formed an equity, diversity and inclusion committee to boost the number of underrepresented groups in the field.

“I try to do my part in looking for talent and encouraging them along the way, because that very much benefited me.”