IREx intern wins Excelle Science award

Alexandra Rochon, a bachelor’s student in physics and geophysics at McGill University and IREx intern for the summers of 2023 and 2024, recently won an Excelle Science award, offered by the Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie as part of the Chapeau, les filles! competition. This $2,500 prize aims to highlight women who have chosen to study in male-dominated university fields.

For the past 2 years, in parallel with her bachelor’s studies, Ms. Rochon has been interested in exoplanets and has contributed to the research conducted by our institute. In the summer of 2023 and throughout 2023-2024, she worked on a project to numerically model the ice caps of synchronously rotating exoplanets, under the joint supervision of IREx members Nicolas Cowan and Thomas Navarro, and Professor Natalya Gomez in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Since the Winter of 2023, she has been working on characterizing hot Jupiters and terrestrial exoplanets at Université de Montréal, under the supervision of Lisa Đặng and René Doyon.

IREx is proud to have dynamic, determined and passionate female researchers like Ms. Rochon, who are making their mark in our still largely male-dominated field.

The winners of the Chapeau, les filles! competition in 2024. Credit : Yan Turcotte

About the Excellence Science awards of the Chapeau, les filles! competition.

The Excellence Science awards of the Chapeau, les filles! competition showcases the determination and work of women enrolled in a bachelor’s program in science or technology that leads to a career in a traditionally male-dominated occupation.