Alice Prashker Curtin, PhD

Fast radio bursts are short (~ms), bursts of radio emission originating from outside our Milky Way Galaxy. Think of all of the energy the sun produces over the course of three days. Fast radio bursts emit the same amount of energy in ~a millisecond! However, despite being discovered in 2007, the origins of fast radio bursts (FRBs) still remain largely unknown. My work tries to uncover their progenitors using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope in British Columbia. In particular, I am interested in understanding the time and frequency structure of these events, and using this information to learn about their origins. I have also focused on searching for counterparts (emission at other wavelengths) to FRBs.

=I am also interested in things a bit more local (e.g., within our own Galaxy). I am fascinated by the newly discoverd long-period transients, and pulsars (as my first ever research area) hold a spot near and dear to my heart.

I am committed to creating equitable and inclusive environments in physics and astronomy, and this commitment drives a lot of the science communication and outreach that I do. I have been a member of McGill's Physics Outreach Committee since 2020, having spent over 1500 hours organizing and facilitating outreach events within the Montreal area. Something I am particularly proud of is an outreach program that I co-founded in 2021 called 'Science in Space: How to Telescope.' This program is a collaboration between McGill University and Dell Technologies in which elementary school girls build telescopes in Minecraft over the course of 10 weeks. You can read more about Science in Space in this article.

I was also a writer and committee member for AstroBites, a graduate-student led community which writes accessible astronomy bites, for 4+ years. You can check out all of my pieces written for Astrobites here.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I am always happy to talk science, whether that means working on collaborative research projects, talking about my experiences in academia, or planning astronomy outreach events. I am also always interested in working with excited undergraduates or MSc students.