NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)

NSERC USRAs are tenable for a 16-consecutive-week duration, and in principle, can be held in any term during the academic year. In most cases, they are held during the summer session.  In addition to a $6,000 stipend provided by NSERC, a faculty supervisor also contributes a minimum topup of $2,500.

Further details about these awards including eligibility criteria can be found on the NSERC website.

As one might expect for a national program, NSERC USRA awards are very competitive, however the rewards are great if you succeed. The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria is typically allocated 6 - 8 awards per year and strongly encourages all interested students (both local and from other universities across Canada and abroad) with first or high second class standing to apply. Preference will be given to students who were not awarded a USRA at UVic in previous years. Note that only students who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada are eligible to apply for the USRA.

For a list of project descriptions, see below. 

Submit your application package through the link below: 
"University of Victoria, Dept of Physics and Astronomy, UG Research Award Application"

Application deadline: January 23, 2026

A complete application package consists of the following:
- Curriculum Vitae
- NSERC Form 202 Part I (accessed when you create an account here)
- Post-secondary transcript(s)*
- Completed questionnaire via the UG Reseaerch Award Application portal. 

*An unofficial transcript is acceptable for all UVic students to upload on to the NSERC site as long as the UVic transcript shows the transfer credits from any other post secondary institution(s). An official transcript must be uploaded for students from other institutions applying for a USRA tenable at UVic.

Application deadlines are dependent on the term in which the USRA is tenable and are listed with the project descriptions.

Selection criteria:

Academic excellence
As demonstrated by past academic results, transcripts, awards and distinctions.
Indicators of academic excellence:
- Academic record
- Scholarships and awards held
- Duration of previous/current studies
- Type of program and courses pursued
- Course load
- Relative standing in program (if available)

The committee will consider the entire academic record when assessing academic excellence. The committee will favourably consider situations where an applicant has demonstrated an improving trend.

Research potential
As demonstrated by the applicant’s research history and their interest in discovery.
Indicators of research potential:
- Academic training
- Previous research/work experience (can include co-op terms)
- Relevance of work experience and academic training to field of
proposed research
- Judgement and ability to think critically
- Ability to apply skills and knowledge
- Enthusiasm for research, relevant community involvement and outreach
- Initiative and autonomy
- Research experience and achievements relative to expectations of someone with the applicant’s academic experience

Contact Department Administrative Officer Monica Lee-Bonar, for questions.      

Project Title: Astro-Metrology and Atmospheric Metrology: ALTAIR Flights for the Precision Calibration of Measurements of our Universe, and of the Earth’s Atmosphere

Project Supervisor: Justin Albert

ALTAIR (Airborne Laser for Telescopic Atmosphere Interference Reduction, https://projectaltair.org) is both a miniature propelled high-altitude balloon program and an international collaboration which is funded by NSERC, DND, and NRC, led by UVic, for precision optical and microwave calibration of ground-based telescopes at sites around the world, such as at the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile (https://rubinobservatory.org).  A brief project description of ALTAIR can be found at https://projectaltair.org/page/about_altair.  ALTAIR will be performing new high-altitude flights here in Canada, and undergoing intensive laboratory and outdoor testing, during this summer.  We are looking for a highly-motivated student, or students, to assist with new design, construction, and testing of ALTAIR, as well as the further development of the flight software.

Project Title: Monitoring Radiotherapy by Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

Project Supervisor: Alex Brolo

SERS microscopy is a laser-based technique that allows an increase in the Raman scattering cross section for molecules adsorbed on metallic nanostructures.  Metallic nanostructures (Au, Ag) support optical modes called surface plasmon resonances. These resonances lead to enhanced local field and spectroscopy. The SERS signal provides information about the molecular composition of the sample. It is then possible to observe how the composition of a particular biological sample (cell media, sera) changes due to radiation exposure by measuring the SERS signature of the sample.  In this project, we will investigate the radiation response from different breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and SKBR3) by SERS. These cell lines have different tolerance to radiotherapy. The goal is to correlated SERS response to radiosensitivity. This type of correlation could be used to personalize radiation treatment based on the specific patient’s response.

Timeline: Training in optical instrumentation and basic nanofabrication principles (May 1 – June 1); Biosafety training and cell lines culturing (May 15 – June 1). Preliminary experiments with cell lines without radiation, and establishment of data analysis protocol (June 1 – June 1st); Radiation Experiments with the two cell lines (July 1 – July 31); Data analysis and reporting (Aug 1 – Aug 31).

The role of the student is to grow the cells, submit the cells to radiation protocols and implement a method for SERS data collection. The student will learn aspects of nanostructure fabrication, laser spectroscopy, radiotherapy and data analytics. The student will have access to UVic HealthCore for the cell work. The student will also be assisted by Dr. Stas Koronov, our laser instrument specialist and by Dr. Alex Wlasenko the management of our experimental infrastructure.

Project Title: Measuring Stokes – Anti-Stokes Correlated Photon Pairs with a Pico-Second Laser

Project Supervisor: Alex Brolo

The objective of this project is to implement a novel platform capable of generating and measuring correlated photons. The summer project will involve the use of a pico-second laser system to generate entangled Stokes-anti-Stokes photon pairs (SaS) from metallic nanostructures.  Normal Raman processes yield scattered photons with energy that is either lower or higher than the excitation laser photon; those processes are called Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering, respectively. However, in the conditions of high fields, there is a probability for two incident photons to simultaneously generate an entangled SaS. Metallic nanostructures have the ability to concentrate light at subwavelength regions through the excitation of surface plasmon resonances. Therefore, the efficiency of SaS generation should be increased from those metallic nanosystems. Our group, in collaboration with Prof. Rogerio de Sousa (UVic Physics) have already implemented the required optical setup for these measurements (using funds from the NFRF program). Preliminary experiments, however, were inconclusive due to a large amount of noise. The optical noise arises from a nonlinear supercontinuum generation background due to the interaction between our (high power) 200 femtosecond laser pulses and the metallic system. This background will decrease significantly if the pulse width is stretched to less than 100 ps. The pulse stretching can be achieved using a combination of dispersion through a long path optical fiber and a system of diffraction grating and slit.

Timeline: Training in optical instrumentation and in basic principles of Raman spectroscopy (May 1 – 15); Preliminary experiments using our current SaS setup to learn how to obtain and analyze the data (May 15 – June 1); Sample design and fabrication (June 1 – June 10); Optical alignment of the optical stretcher, testing and optimization (June 1 – July 1^st); data acquisition system (June 1 – July 15); Testing with standard samples and final optimization (July 15 – Aug 31).

The role of the student is to set up the laser stretcher system and to test the new setup for the generation of SaS from metallic nanostructures. The student will first be trained in the current system. The current system allow measurements of SaS from regular materials (water, diamond), but the SaS generated from metallic nanostructures is too noisy. In any case, the student will learn all the principle of the experiment in the first month, including the data analysis protocol.  After that, the student will work on stretching the fs laser into the picosecond domain. The student will use a long path optical fiber in combination with a wavelength separation and selection.  The detection will be carried out using our single photon superconducting nanowire detector. In parallel to the optical set up, the student will also design and fabricated standard metallic nanostructures for testing using electron beam lithography. Finally, the student will test and optimize the picosecond laser system for SaS acquisitions. The student will be assisted by both Dr. Stas Koronov (laser instrument specialist) and by Dr. Alex Wlasenko (lab manager) of our Facilities for Imaging Photonics and Spectroscopy (FIPS).

Project Title: Automated DNA Damage Processing

Project Supervisor: Devika Chithrani

Cells exposed to irradiation undergo excessive amounts of DNA damage that leads to cellular dysfunction and ultimately cell death. The quantification of DNA damage is, therefore, a useful metric to determine the amount of damage induced in cells when exposed to different types of radiation or with additional therapeutic interventions. In our lab, we have developed a technique to qualitatively and quantitatively image and count individual DNA breaks using a confocal microscope. However, the current technique relies on the student's subjective reasoning to determine what counts as a break and what does not on the image. 

The student will work closely with current MSc students in the lab to use the current technique to image individual DNA breaks in cell cultures exposed to radiation and incubated with gold nanoparticles. The student will then develop an image analysis technique (using ImageJ or other image software, or develop their own process) to quantitatively determine the amount of DNA damage on the recorded images, without counting them individually. The goal of the project is to automate the DNA damage quantification process and ensure the results are not biased by human intervention.

Project Title: Quantum photonics for quantum computing

Project Supervisor: Rogério de Sousa

Nonclassical states of light such as single photons and squeezed states are known to provide extraordinary advantage due to the existence of algorithms for photonic quantum sensing, communication, and computing. However, the hardware for the realization of most of these algorithms are still under development, because chip-based quantum photonics is not a mature technology. The challenge of chip-based quantum photonics is to yield high optical nonlinearity with sufficiently low photon loss in order to generate, control and maintain coherence of nontrivial photonic states for quantum information applications.

Recent experiments show that a potential solution to the high optical nonlinearity/low loss problem is to use ferroelectric materials as a platform for photonic quantum computing. In this project the undergraduate student will work with my group and the Consortium on integrated quantum photonics with ferroelectric materials (https://ferroelectricphotonics.ca/) in order to develop theories and models for quantum devices based on photons. The work will involve analytical and computational tools for calculating quantities such as photon loss and entangled photon pair generation rates. By completing this project the student will acquire skills in solid state and quantum optics theory/modelling of great importance to the Canadian academic and high-tech industry sectors. 

Project Title: Automating 3D Stars from 1D Models

Project Supervisor: Falk Herwig

Stars are where almost all the elements in the universe formed, and understanding how that happens requires detailed 1D and 3D simulations. 3D simulations are too expensive to run for the star's whole life, so we choose from interesting moments in 1D models. The current process is mostly manual. We are looking for a student with Python literacy to create an interactive Jupyter notebook that fully automates the process of converting a 1D star into a 3D star. You will become familiar with the cutting-edge ways of modelling of stars in 1D and 3D, learn how to use git, improve Python skills, and how to use AI for scientific research. You will also run 3D hydrodynamic simulations on the supercomputer Trillium at SciNet, using your created 3D stars as a starting point to learn about the dynamic such as convection in stars.  

Project Title: Ultracold atoms for quantum information technology.

Project Supervisor: Andrew MacRae 

Laser cooling is a counter-intuitive technique that can achieve nearly unfathomably cold temperatures - less than 0.000003K (or 1,000,000 times colder than outer space!). In such a system known as a Magneto Optical Trap, a strong laser illuminates an atomic vapour in a vacuum cell at a very specific set of wavelengths and directions. We have recently developed such a cold atom trap at the University of Victoria and are now seeking to use the cold atomic ensemble to perform an important task in quantum computing: conversion of photons from atom-resonant wavelengths to "telecom" wavelengths used in fibers. This will allow for quantum information to be transported across long distances using optical fibers - an enabling feature for the future "quantum internet". 

The student in this project will work alongside a MSc student and potentially one other undergraduate to operate and learn about the cold atom trap before modifying the system to obtain as high an atom number as possible. Specifically, the trap will be configured to obtain a high "optical depth", meaning a very large absorption to resonant light. 

Project Title: Harnessing Topology to Create Protected Atomic States

Project Supervisor:  Jesse Mumford

Topology is the study of global geometric properties of objects.  For instance, the number of holes in an object is a topological quantity, so a donut and a coffee mug are topologically equivalent.  Furthermore, topology tends to be protected in that one must do something ‘violent’ to destroy it such as ripping apart the donut.  In the 1970’s and 80’s, it was discovered that the electrons in materials can also possess a subtle form of topology.  In this case, the topology manifests in the form of quantum states that are more stable than typical states because they inherit the topological protection.  This robustness is particularly significant because quantum states are typically fragile and easily disrupted by their environment.  As a result, topologically protected (TP) states have been proposed as promising candidates for the basis of qubits in quantum computation. 

Our goal will be to theoretically demonstrate the existence of TP states within a single atom.  Unlike prior studies where TP states arise in the spatial dimensions of materials, we aim to show their existence in the nuclear and electronic states of an atom subjected to external electromagnetic fields.  The student working on this project will gain a basic understanding of topology, solid-state physics, and atomic physics, using both analytic and computational methods.  This project is well suited for students interested in gaining research experience in a broad range of physics topics.

Project Title: Hunting for Long-Lived Particles using the ATLAS Muon System

Project Supervisor: Dominique Trischuk

The ATLAS Experiment (https://atlas.cern) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) studies high-energy proton collisions to learn more about the basic building blocks of matter and the forces that shape our universe. Currently, in our research group we are hunting for evidence of new particles that travel measurable distances before decaying, which could reveal physics beyond the Standard Model. Typically, these long-lived particles do not interact with detector material, so their decay produces an unusual signal with a burst of activity far away from the proton collision point at the centre of the ATLAS detector.

In this project, the student will study the mass resolution using a new reconstruction algorithm which locates point of origin (vertex) of the long-lived particle decay using tracks measured in the ATLAS muon system. Next the student will investigate how to extend this method by associating nearby tracks to the vertex and characterize the vertex reconstruction performance. By completing this project, the student will acquire skills in data analysis, developing efficient software, and utilizing large high-performance computing systems, which are in high demand across Canada’s academic and industry sectors.

Project Title: Building the Next-Generation Data Acquisition System for the ATLAS Inner Tracker

Project Supervisor: Dominique Trischuk

The ATLAS Experiment (https://atlas.cern) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) studies high-energy proton collisions to learn more about the basic building blocks of matter and the forces that shape our universe. ATLAS is currently undergoing a massive upgrade project to prepare the detector for the High-Luminosity LHC era (https://atlas.cern/Updates/News/ATLAS-Prepares-HLLHC) , which will deliver far higher collision rates and data volumes, enabling more precise measurements and greater discovery potential. In our lab we work on designing the data acquisition system for a new all-silicon based tracker will be located at the heart of the ATLAS experiment.

In this project, the student will work with a single silicon module setup connected to the Front-End Link eXchange (FELIX) system, which leverages the compute capabilities of FPGAs to deploy flexible high-speed data routing. The student will work alongside a PhD student to understand the fundamentals of silicon detectors, operate the readout system and analyze the data. Next the student will work on developing a setup to generate test cluster patterns in the front-end electronics to simulate charged particle interactions in the silicon.  By completing this project, the student will acquire skills in data analysis, developing efficient software, and utilizing large high-performance computing systems, which are in high demand across Canada’s academic and industry sectors.