Author: Elsa Yuan

Ilsa is one of 24 early career scientists in chemistry, physics, and astronomy named to the 2026 Class of Cottrell Scholars. The program honours and helps to develop teacher-scholars who are recognized for both their outstanding research programs and demonstration of academic leadership. Cottrell Scholars are selected by the RSCA (Research Corporation for Science Advancement) through a rigorous peer-review process of applications from public and private research universities and primarily undergraduate institutions in the United States and Canada. Proposals for the award incorporate both research and science education. Read more about the RSCA and the winning Cottrell Scholar proposals here. Congratulations Ilsa!

GOTHAM, including work from UBC Astrochem Lab members, recently published Centimeter-Wave Rotational Spectroscopy of Ethynylbenzonitriles: Structural Analysis and Astronomical Search in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Read more here!

Congratulations to Ilsa and Elsa for receiving funding from the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) PhD Collab pilot program for their project “How to build a living planet: the ingredients for life on other worlds”. The primary objectives of this program are to provide new opportunities for PhD students to build competencies and networks in collaborative, inter/transdisciplinary scholarly work, and to advance collaboration as a desired research and learning mode across disciplines to enrich scholarship. This will be a collaboration with Dr. Michelle Kunimoto (Physics & Astronomy), Dr. Sean Crowe (Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science; Microbiology & Immunology), Justine Obidowski (PHYS), and Shea Thorne (EOAS). Read more here!

Legacy data from the GOTHAM spectral line survey of TMC-1 has recently been made public. More than 1 400 hours of observational data on the Green Bank Telescope is now available to the global scientific community, facilitating exciting new opportunities for collaboration and cross-disciplinary discoveries. Read more about the release here!

This Spring, the UBC Astrochemistry Lab launched an outreach program aimed at local high school students. Templeton Secondary student Eryn Grahn worked with our outreach coordinator to build and test a low-cost radio telescope, and was able to detect atomic hydrogen signatures from the galactic arms of the Milky Way. Eryn chose to base her final capstone project on this telescope, and was chosen by her teachers to present her findings at Temp Talks, an annual showcase of STEM related projects at her high school. 

Through this project, Eryn displayed an exceptional attention to detail and science communication skills, something that will serve her well as she explores her interest in astrophysics. We wish Eryn luck in her future endeavours!

Some of our research was recently highlighted by UBC Science. Read more in the article here!