2025 CASCA Plaskett Medal & NRC Plaskett Fellowship Presented to Dr. William Thompson '23

Dr. William Thompson of ARC & NRC-Herzberg was named as the recipient of the 2025 CASCA Plaskett Medal & NRC Plaskett Fellowship for the most outstanding doctoral thesis in astronomy or astrophysics.

Dr. Thompson’s thesis, defended at the University of Victoria in 2023 under the direction of Profs. Falk Herwig and Christian Marois, is entitled, “Lights in Motion: Observing Nearby Planets with Imaging, Wavefront Sensing, Orbital Detection, and Spectroscopy”. The title hints at the breadth of the research described within Dr. Thompson’s thesis work, including developing new computational methods to analyze angular differential imaging observations and employing these methods to discover a new candidate exoplanet around HR 8799; developing the first multi-technique exoplanet finding code that can incorporate radial velocity, astrometry and high-contrast imaging data; carrying out both simulation and laboratory tests of two new techniques for exoplanet imaging; and more. The thesis external examiner notes that, “it is the combination of innovative thinking, rigorous simulation and laboratory testbed results which make the work so impressive.” The software developed as part of Dr. Thompson’s thesis research is publicly available and is already being used by other exoplanet researchers, and his instrumentation development work provides first steps toward possible hardware contributions to the Habitable Worlds Observatory.  CASCA is delighted to recognize Dr. Thompson for these outstanding contributions.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Thompson on this incredible achievement!