News

I am very pleased to announce that Taylor Kutra is the recipient of this year’s Fieldus Award. This departmental honour is awarded to a graduating student for excellence in leadership and research.

Taylor has done excellent research on planet formation during her PhD, combining observational and theoretical tools to obtain novel insights into the formation of Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes and to investigate the role of stellar illumination on proto-planetary disks.

Taylor has also been one of the department’s most active members in outreach and leadership, serving as co-president of GASA, as co-director of AstroTours, as a member of the Community Climate Committee, and organizing professional development workshops for the undergraduate research students. As AstroTours co-director, Taylor strove to make the events more inclusive to a broader community of audiences – e.g. designing a new exhibit, Tactile Astronomy, that featured 3D rendered models which were accessible to the blind and visually impaired. In her leadership and outreach work, she has been consistently committed to looking for ways to lift others up.

Congratulations Taylor and thank you for everything you have done for the department!