TRIUMF is pleased to share that Dr. Yukiya Saito has been awarded the 2023-2024 Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) PhD Thesis Prize.
(image: Dr. Yukiya Saito)
For his thesis (“Development of Statistical Tools for Studies of the Rapid Neutron Capture Process”), Saito focused on the origin of the elements heavier than iron in the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) through the development of statistical and machine learning tools to quantify the impact of various nuclear physics uncertainties on r-process nucleosynthesis. More generally, his research focuses on the intersection of experimental and computational nuclear astrophysics, and improving our understanding of the properties of exotic nuclei and the r-process using nucleosynthesis simulations and machine learning. Saito completed his Masters and PhD under Dr. Iris Dillmann and Dr. Reiner Kruecken at the University of British Columbia.
As part of his prize win, Saito has been invited to give a talk at the 2025 CAP Annual Congress, and a two-page summary of his thesis work will appear in an upcoming issue of Physics in Canada.
The PhD Thesis Prize was established in 2005 by the DNP, to be awarded in Experimental or Theoretical Nuclear Physics to any student receiving their Ph.D. degree from a Canadian University in the current or prior calendar year. The selection for the 2023-24 Prize was adjudicated by a committee consisting of Jason Holt (TRIUMF), Erica Caden (SNOLAB), Alan Chen (McMaster University), and Stephan Malbrunot (TRIUMF).
Congratulations, Yukiya!