Dr. Clarence Virtue (PhD, UBC) has been at Laurentian University since 1992 following a five year posting at CERN, Geneva in the particle Physics Laboratory. Dr. Virtue is currently researching neutrino physics with the goal of understanding solar and supernova neutrinos.
A supernova is a cataclysmic explosion of a massive star; and may, for a short time, out shine an entire galaxy of a hundred billion ordinary stars. The supernova explosion is widely believed to be responsible for the formation of the planets.
Dr. Virtue has published extensively and has been instrumental in the design, construction and operation of HALO (Helium and Lead Observatory) at SNOLAB. He is currently the principal investigator and spokesperson for HALO, an international collaboration involving eleven institutions.
We congratulate Dr. Virtue for meriting the Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Excellence Award.