Canadian Astronomical Society
Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal for Early Career Research in Astronomy
The Richer Medal was established in 2016 thanks to a generous gift from Harvey B. Richer, a former Director of CASCA and Professor at the University of British Columbia.
The Richer Medal is awarded every second year, in odd-numbered years, in recognition of significant and sustained early career research in astronomy. To be eligible, the nominee must be a member of CASCA in good standing, and a Canadian astronomer or an astronomer working in Canada. The nominee will normally have received his or her PhD degree within the previous 10 years; allowances will be made for extended leaves of up to two years (e.g. maternity or paternity leaves, medical leaves, etc.). However, no individual may be nominated for both the Richer (early career) and Martin (mid-career) prizes in the same year.
The award consists of a gold medal, plus a certificate. The recipient shall be invited to address the Society at its Annual General Meeting.
Nomination Requirements
The nomination package must be submitted entirely in electronic form to the Chair of the Awards committee and should consist of:
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A letter of nomination (see nomination guidelines). Nomination letters should be written in the third person, without reference to nominator identity, and without institutional letterhead or other identifiers. This ensures that self- and non-self nominations are not distinguishable.
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The CV of the nominee.
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Three external letters of support (e.g., from international experts in the nominee’s field). No letter should exceed two pages in length.
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An endorsement of the nomination by two CASCA members in good standing to be sent by email directly to the chair of the Awards Committee.
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All nomination documents should be in a single PDF document
No other material should be submitted.
The deadline for nominations for the 2025 Award is 15 January 2025.
2025 Harvey B. Richer Gold Medal
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.