Simon Chambers-Trubatch ’27 and Will Lankenau ’27 selected for Fulbright Canada-MITACS Globalink research program

Two Carleton students have been selected for the Fulbright Canada-MITACS Globalink research internship this year. Through the program, Simon Chambers-Trubatch ’27 and Will Lankenau ’27 will spend 10–12 weeks at Canadian universities, where they will receive hands-on research experience along with professional, networking, and recreational opportunities.

Simon Chambers-Trubatch ’27, a mathematics and physics double major, will be conducting theoretical research at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. His work will focus on quantum models of the black hole event horizon, using a medley of analytical methods and computational modeling.

“The theory of gravitation has never been reconciled in full detail with the theory of quantum mechanics,” Chambers-Trubatch said. “There are a lot of partial solutions, some of which work very well, but they break down under certain extreme conditions, black holes being one such example. I will therefore be studying the black hole’s surface as a testing ground for some new ideas in theoretical physics.”

Although Chambers-Trubatch has not worked on this exact topic before, his prior research experiences at Carleton and elsewhere will help ease the transition. After his first year, for example, he worked with Barry Costanzi, assistant professor of physics, on experimental magnetism.

“It was fun, but I wanted to think more about fundamental phenomena,” Chambers-Trubatch reflected. “I began to get excited to do more than lab tinkering, which was fun in its own way. I wanted to think about the ideas in broader settings.”

So, last summer, Chambers-Trubatch participated in a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Washington’s atomic physics lab, an experience that led to his current on-campus work with Arjendu Pattanayak, professor of physics, studying simplified quantum models.

“I’ve learned a lot from [Pattanayak] about doing independent work, learning things on my own, figuring out solutions to interesting problems, and understanding the literature,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed that.”

During his Fulbright, Chambers-Trubatch will be working under Arundhati Dasgupta, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Lethbridge. He sees the opportunity as a meaningful step toward his long-term goal of earning a PhD in theoretical physics.

“I’ve wanted to better understand relativity and quantum mechanics since I was a kid,” Chambers-Trubatch said. “General relativity says that time and space are related — what a crazy thing to think about!” 

Chambers-Trubatch recommends that anyone interested in the program should apply.

“I recommend taking the plunge,” he said. “Just get out there and do what you want to do.”

Will Lankenau ’27, a mathematics major with a French minor, will be conducting research at Memorial University of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He anticipates his project will adopt an interdisciplinary approach as he works on modeling medium-term climate patterns.

“I’m really interested in data science and statistics, as well as physical and climate science,” Lankenau said, “so it’s great that this project merges the two.”

He credits his coursework at Carleton for preparing him for the internship.

“Being a math major and having taken a class on machine learning will be helpful,” he said, “because I will be working on a machine learning model for this opportunity.”

Lankenau has also gained research experience at Carleton while working with Jay Tasson, associate professor of physics.

“I’ve been working with Jay Tasson since freshman winter, doing theoretical physics research,” Lankenau said. “We’ve been writing a lot of code.”

Beyond academics, Lankenau is eager to experience Newfoundland’s landscape.

“It looks supernaturally beautiful,” he said. “I’ve never been, but some of the pictures I’ve seen of the coast and the hills and the hiking opportunities look really cool.”

Looking ahead, Lankenau hopes the experience will help shape his academic and career path.

“I want to go to grad school, probably in statistics,” he said. “I’ve been interested in climate science for a long time but haven’t done any work in it. So, if I love it, maybe this is something I want to go into. This is a great opportunity to apply data science, modeling, and math to a high-level research project.”

Learn more about Fulbright Canada-MITACS Globalink and other fellowships from Carleton’s Office of Student Fellowships.