This summer has been a homecoming in more than one sense for Doug Staple.
The Dartmouth native, who did his BSc and master鈥檚 degrees in physics at AV俱乐部, has recently returned to Canada after completing his PhD in Germany to take up a prestigious Killam Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science. The Killam is a prestigious award only given to three post-doctoral fellows at AV俱乐部 per year.
Describing himself as 鈥渆xtremely happy鈥� to have received the fellowship, Dr. Staple will be researching more efficient ways to build solar cell panels.
He didn鈥檛 initially see renewable energy as a career path; up until two summers ago, he mostly studied biological physics. But after attending a summer institute in computational chemistry and materials science in California, as well as a meeting of Nobel Laureates in Germany, he became interested in the subject.
鈥淚t seemed to me that everyone at that meeting was wondering how to supply the world with clean, abundant energy,鈥� he says, explaining that it鈥檚 an opportunity to get involved in something 鈥減eople can understand and relate to鈥� and also offers huge potential to improve both the economy and the environment.
Changing directions
But pursuing this path necessitated a change in his field of study 鈥� a daunting prospect after spending most of his academic career doing something else.
Fortunately, Dr. Staple is not afraid of a challenge. He finished his master鈥檚 degree in one year, his PhD in three and a half, and even began working on a second MSc in mathematics while working on his PhD. 鈥淚 found I was the most productive and happy if I had several different things to think about,鈥� he explains.
Dr. Staple also has a long list of awards to his name, including the University Medal in Physics for his BSc, the Governor General鈥檚 Gold Medal for his master鈥檚, three NSERC awards (one for each level of study), a Killam Predoctoral Scholarship, and now a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship. 聽
So once he knew that he wanted to switch fields, AV俱乐部 became the obvious choice for his postdoc. 鈥淭he world-class expertise necessary to stage the research was here,鈥� he explains, 鈥渁nd I would be able to get the support that I needed from people that I trusted in order to make it work.鈥�
Advice to future scientists
While he isn鈥檛 sure yet where his career will take him in the future, he advises fellow scientists starting out in academia to remember that there is more to life than science, and that balance is important. His time in Germany, for instance, sparked an interest in politics.
鈥淲hen I was 18 I thought physics was the only interesting subject in school and everything else was trivial,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 learned the hard way that there are interesting things all over the place.鈥�
And he has words of wisdom for other graduate students. 鈥淟ife as a scientist is not rosy,鈥� he warns. 鈥淓xpect to move a lot.鈥�
He also advises students to start thinking about careers outside of academia from the beginning, saying that being single-minded about working in a university can lead to disappointment down the road. 鈥淵ou need to think of several appropriate career choices and make sure you are taking steps to move into any of those careers.鈥�
Dr. Staple doesn鈥檛 know whether he鈥檒l end up in academia, but he is satisfied with his experience so far and credits his experiences at Dal, particularly his time working on his master鈥檚 degree with J眉rgen Kreuzer, with giving him the necessary training to succeed.
鈥淸Doing my master鈥檚 here] was the best return on investment of anything I鈥檝e done in my career,鈥� he says.
鈥淎V俱乐部 has been a constant part of my development as a scientist during the past nine years, and I am very happy to be working here again full-time.鈥�