Canadian Astronomical Society
2025 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal for Early Career Research in Astronomy: Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo
CASCA is pleased to announce Dr. Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo as the 2025 recipient of the Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal in recognition of significant and sustained early career research in astronomy. Dr. Hlavacek-Larrondo obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge and is currently an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Physics Department at the Université de Montréal where she is the lead scientist of the black hole research group. Her leading contributions to astronomy cover the spectrum from X-ray observations of hot gas and supermassive black holes in galaxy clusters, through novel optical spectroscopic observations with SITELLE on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope of cooling gas in the centre of the Perseus cluster, to radio observations using the Jansky Very Large Array of mini-halos in galaxy clusters that provide evidence of ongoing black hole feedback upon the gaseous component of clusters. In addition to her scientific contributions, Dr. Hlavacek-Larrondo is an outstanding leader in Canada’s astronomical community, having served as a founding scientist of both CIELA, a Canadian research institute with the goal of facilitating discoveries in astrophysics through development of new methods of data analysis and computation, and Parité Sciences, a project committed to better representation of students at Québec high schools to further their education in STEM fields. CASCA is delighted to recognize Dr. Hlavacek-Larrondo for her contributions to astronomical research.
2023 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal for Early Career Research in Astronomy: Kiyoshi Masui
CASCA is pleased to announce Dr. Kiyoshi Masui as the recipient of the 2023 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal, in recognition of significant and sustained early career research in astronomy. Dr. Masui obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has played a key leadership role in both the CHIME and CHIME/FRB Collaborations, both technically and scientifically, and contributed substantially to the success of these world-leading projects. At the same time, he has provided exceptional mentorship and training to the young scientists working on these projects. His contributions have demonstrated impressive breadth, from instrumentation development to scientific data analysis, theory, and interpretation, and from 21 cm cosmology to fast radio bursts (FRBs). Dr. Masui has made pioneering and high-impact contributions to our understanding of the FRB phenomenon, for example by leading the publication of the first CHIME/FRB catalog which enabled the discovery of key scientific properties of the FRB population. As project scientist, he is currently leading CHIME’s next major instrumentation effort, CHIME/FRB Outriggers.
CASCA is delighted to recognize Dr. Masui's achievements with this award.
2021 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal for Early Career Research in Astronomy: Renée Hložek
CASCA is pleased to announce Dr. Renée Hložek as the recipient of the 2021 Richer Medal. Dr. Hložek obtained her PhD from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Dunlap Institute and the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. She is a recognized expert in both observational and theoretical cosmology in all her investigations: in studies of the cosmic microwave background, probes of large-scale structure, or transient cosmology. She holds multiple leadership positions in international collaborations, including the Simons Observatory, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Canadian Euclid Consortium, and the Vera Rubin Observatory. Coupling her own research accomplishments with the training of a large number of students since arriving at Toronto, she has raised the profile and impact of the Canadian cosmological community. Dr. Hložek received the University of Toronto Dean's Faculty Merit Award in 2017 and 2018, and has been elected a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar as well as an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.
2019 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal for Early Career Research in Astronomy: Nicolas Cowan
CASCA is pleased to announce that Dr. Nicholas Cowan is the recipient of the 2019 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal in recognition of significant and sustained early career research in astronomy.
Dr. Cowan is an established leader in the field of exoplanets through his work on high
precision infrared photometry, determining the energy balance in exoplanet atmospheres, and using exoplanets as `laboratories' for planetary science. Dr. Cowan has 80 papers with a citation count of over 4700. In addition to this high level of scholarship, Dr. Cowan has an impressive record of supervision and training, having worked with 2
postdoctoral research scientists, 9 graduate students, and 36 undergraduate students.
CASCA is delighted to recognize Dr. Cowan's scholarship with this award.
2017 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal for Early Career Research in Astronomy: David Lafreniere
CASCA is pleased to announce that the recipient of the inaugural Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal is Dr. David Lafrenière of the Université de Montréal.
Dr. Lafrenière earned his PhD in 2007 from the Université de Montréal and went on to the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow. He returned to Montréal in 2009 and joined the faculty in 2011. David has received
many prestigious awards and honours such as Scientist of the Year 2008 -Société Radio-Canada, the 2010 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the 2010 NSERC John C. Polanyi Award, and the Medal of Honours of the Assemblée
Nationale, Province de Québec.
Dr. Lafrenière is an expert in the field of exoplanet imaging who has made a substantial and significant impact very early in his career. He is among the few people to have led the first imaging discoveries of exoplanets.
David’s early work on 1RXSJ1609-2105b has yielded one of the best spectroscopic/photometric datasets ever secured on a gas giant exoplanet.
He is the inventor of a mathematically rigorous statistical method called the Locally Optimized Combination of Images (LOCI) algorithm, which was designed to improve contrast achieved in astronomical images. LOCI has
become the worldwide gold standard in the analysis of high-contrast images. He also conducted the Gemini Deep Planet Survey (GDPS), the first statistically significant exoplanet imaging survey, which provided one of
the best constraints ever obtained on the gas giant planet frequency in wide orbits around main sequence stars. He was a member of the team that
first imaged a multi-planet system orbiting another star (HR8799). He is currently the leader of a major exoplanet transit and eclipse spectroscopy program for the Canadian-built NIRISS instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. It has been said that, if a space mission does one day detect an Earthlike planet and reveal oxygen in its atmosphere, it will do so using techniques descended from Dr. Lafrenière’s LOCI.
In addition to his impressive scientific and technical achievements, it is worth noting Dr. Lafrenière’s extensive service to the Canadian astronomical community. Indeed, he has served on a number of important committees (e.g., JCSA, CanTAC) as well as on science teams for cutting-edge instruments with significant Canadian involvement such as CFHT/SPIROU, Gemini/GPI, and JWST/NIRISS.