Press Release

Friday, May 19, 2017

Université de Moncton gains new Canada Research Chair

The Université de Moncton will welcome a new Canada Research Chair in July. Professor Deny Hamel of the faculty of science’s physics and astronomy department will lead the Chair, entitled the Research Canada Chair in Optics and Quantum Information.

Over the next five years, the Chair will seek to develop methods of controlling quantum light. The results of Professor Hamel’s work will allow for efficient access to the quantum properties of the light, thus facilitating the development of new technologies such as quantum computers.

“I’m very grateful that this Chair will allow my group to intensify its research efforts,” Professor Hamel said. “This financing will be used primarily to purchase the latest specialized technology as well as to train a larger number of young promising researchers in the optics and quantum information sector.”

“Professor Hamel is a leading world expert in his research area,” said Francis LeBlanc, Vice-President, Research. “The entire university community is celebrating this success. Professor Hamel’s work aligns perfectly with the directions in which the university is concentrating, and relates to the continuity of the high-quality research work undertaken by the physics and astrology department over the past several decades. I am convinced that his research will enhance the university’s reputation on a national and international scale.”

A native of Dieppe, Mr. Hamel graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the Université de Moncton in 2008. He then completed his master’s degree (2010) and Ph.D. (2013) at the University of Waterloo as a Vanier Scholar, undertaking research on the development of sources of entangled photons. He then continued his studies in quantum information as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna. In July 2014, Mr. Hamel returned to the Université de Moncton, his alma mater, as an associate professor.



Return to Press release