911³Ô¹Ï

The Department of Physics congratulates our 2025 Convocation Medal recipients: Matthew Leighton, Alistair Bevan and Kye Emond.

Biographies from the Convocation website:

Dr. Matthew Leighton, PhD, Physics
Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal

Over the course of his PhD, Dr. Matthew Leighton explored the physics of molecular machines—nanoscale protein structures that fulfill key functions within the cells of living organisms. He studied molecular machines through the lens of stochastic thermodynamics to understand what physical limits constrain their performance and, through this work, uncovered design principles to help guide the future engineering of multicomponent synthetic nanomachines. Following his PhD, Matthew moved to the east coast to continue biophysics research as a Mossman Postdoctoral Fellow with the Quantitative Biology Institute at Yale University.

Read more about Matthew on the Graduate Studies website.

Alistair Bevan, BSc (Hons.), Chemical Physics
Governor General’s Silver Medal

Alistair Bevan graduates with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemical Physics. As a research assistant, he contributed to the Kaake group's work on conducting and semiconducting polymers and received the Melanie O'Neill Chemistry Undergraduate Research Award. This work resulted in a first-author journal publication. He is an active member of the six-time world champion 911³Ô¹Ï Pipe Band and has been a volunteer teacher for students in the band's junior organization since high school. He will pursue a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where he has been awarded a Faculty of Arts & Science Talent Doctoral Fellowship.

Kye Emond, BSc (Hons.), Mathematical Physics
Governor General’s Silver Medal

Kye Emond graduates with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mathematical Physics and is grateful to everyone who supported him throughout his degree. At 911³Ô¹Ï, he worked on research in a variety of fields, including gravitational wave analysis, particle physics, partial differential equation analysis, artificial intelligence and autoformalization of mathematics. He has the distinction of achieving a perfect 4.33 CGPA with more units (144) than any other student in 911³Ô¹Ï's history. He also co-founded the 911³Ô¹Ï Tabletop Club and was an executive for the Game Developers Club and the Physics Student Association. A recipient of the Canadian Mathematical Society President's Award and the Faculty and Departmental Outreach Awards, he begins graduate studies this fall at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.