Q&A with Nobel Laureate Professor Donna Strickland
We're pleased to announce our Q&A event with Professor Donna Strickland, Nobel Laureate in Physics (2018).
This Q&A with Professor Donna Strickland will allow the audience to ask the Nobel Prize winner questions about her career, scientific breakthroughs, and becoming a Nobel Laureate.
The event aims to provide ECR and HDRs the opportunity to have their questions answered during the event. Please submit your questions below.
- Date: Monday 7 July 2025
- Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
- Location: RMIT Building 80 Cinema, Level 1 Room 2 (80.01.002)
Registration has now closed. For inquiries or late registration requests, please contact the COMBS Centre Coordinator, Nicci Coad via email nicci.coad@combs.org.au
About Professor Donna Strickland
Donna Strickland is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and is one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 for developing chirped pulse amplification with Gérard Mourou, her PhD supervisor at the time.
They published this Nobel-winning research in 1985 when Strickland was a PhD student at the University of Rochester in New York state. Together they paved the way toward the most intense laser pulses ever created.
Strickland was a Research Associate at the National Research Council Canada, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a member of technical staff at Princeton University. In 1997, she joined the University of Waterloo, where her ultrafast laser group develops high-intensity laser systems for nonlinear optics investigations.
Strickland earned a PhD in optics from the University of Rochester and a B.Eng. from McMaster University.
Strickland’s record is very impressive:
- named a Companion of the Order of Canada
- recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Premier’s Research Excellence Award and a Cottrell Scholar Award
- served as the President of the Optical Society (OSA) in 2013
- Fellow of OSA and SPIE, the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society
- Honorary Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Physics
- international member of the US National Academy of Science.
You will have a chance to submit a question to ask Professor Donna Strickland at our Q&A event.
Submitting a question for the Q&A
We invite all registered attendees to submit their questions for Professor Strickland. This is your unique opportunity to ask about her research, career path, challenges, inspirations, or advice for aspiring scientists.
- During registration, you will find a dedicated section to submit your question.
- Submitted questions will be reviewed and pre-approved by Professor Strickland to ensure relevance and alignment with the Q&A format.
- If your question is selected, you will read your question aloud to Professor Strickland during the event.
Event Sponsors
