Calvin Tabert awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal for top graduate student

Calvin Tabert has been awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal for outstanding achievement at the graduate level. Calvin completed his MSc and PhD in the quantum materials group of Prof. Elisabeth Nicol. The citation for his award summarizes Calvin's remarkable achievements and is given below:

Award Citation:

Each year the University of Guelph awards the Governor General’s Gold Medal to one graduating student for outstanding academic achievement at the graduate level of study.

Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I have the honour to present to you this year’s recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal, Calvin Tabert.

Calvin Tabert is a graduate of the PhD program of the Department of Physics. His academic record is outstanding: he achieved a cumulative average of 93% in his graduate courses and his remarkable accomplishments in graduate school have been recognized with four years of prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Calvin’s field of research is in quantum materials and condensed matter physics, where he has worked on theoretical models for novel new materials that have been recently discovered: graphene, silicene and topological insulators. These are the thinnest crystals that can exist in nature, only a single layer of atoms. Calvin has made important predictions for these materials which may one day impact their development for technological applications such as opto-electronics.

Calvin has distinguished himself with his extraordinary research. After only a short time as a graduate student (1 year for the MSc and 3 for the PhD), he has published 14 scientific papers in the top peer-reviewed journals for the field.  Moreover, these papers have collected more than 300 citations already and one of these papers is so highly cited as to be ranked in the top 1% of its academic field by a major citation index. Of the 14 papers, Calvin is the first author on 13. This is truly an extraordinary track record of productivity and impact. It is at a level far exceeding that for a PhD student and one that few faculty can match.

Calvin has demonstrated extraordinary intellect and work-ethic, and I believe you will agree with me, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, that he is a most worthy recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal.