Faculty of Science welcomes Emma Spanswick as department head in Physics and Astronomy

The University of Calgary’s Department of Physics and Astronomy is entering a new chapter in its storied history of space exploration.

Dr. Emma Spanswick, BSc'02, MSc'04, PhD'09, an internationally known space physicist, has been named the new department head.

“We are pleased to welcome Emma as the new department head,” says Dr. Kristin Baetz, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Science. “A highly accomplished researcher and respected leader, she brings a strong commitment to innovation, collaboration and student success.”

Spanswick officially begins her five-year term on July 1.

She succeeds Dr. David Knudsen, PhD, whose time in leadership helped to solidify the university’s reputation as an international leader in space science and showed a deep commitment to mentorship, academic excellence, and a strong, collaborative departmental culture.

Knudsen, who will retire next year, started at UCalgary as an adjunct professor in 1995 and went on to become a full professor studying space plasma physics, including physics of the aurora and space plasma instrumentation.

One of the biggest highlights of his academic career, he says, was leading the GEODESIC mission, a Canadian Space Agency-funded suborbital space rocket that launched in February 2000. It carried UCalgary-designed instruments to study plasma — the matter that makes up much of the visible universe and laid the groundwork for a string of followup space projects.

“It ended up being really good scientifically,” says Knudsen, who got to do the live countdown during the launch in Alaska.

The instruments helped scientists more precisely observe charged particles of plasma in the aurora, meaning researchers got a better understanding of energy transfer from the sun to the Earth.

Knudsen was also the lead scientist for the Canadian Electric Field Instruments on the European Space Agency's Swarm satellite mission that launched in 2013 and included a comprehensive range of instruments to advance the knowledge of Earth’s magnetic field.

He became the Physics and Astronomy department head in 2017.

“I really see the job as a facilitator,” Knudsen says. “So, the satisfaction has come from helping people implement their ideas.”

During his time as head, Knudsen says he’s most proud of the department’s work around equity and diversity. It helped to increase the number of female physics professors at UCalgary.

Spanswick, who is a Canada Research Chair in Geospace Dynamics and Space Plasma Physics, is the first female department head in Physics and Astronomy at UCalgary, and one of the first in physics departments across Canada.

“It’s fantastic,” Knudsen says of Spanswick taking on the role. “She’s a product of our environment. It’s an endorsement of this environment.

“Emma has been a strong leader throughout her career, even as a student and postdoc. She has an impressive ability both to formulate a creative vision and to see that it gets done.” 

Spanswick manages one of the world’s most extensive networks of ground-based sensors across the Arctic and has redefined how scientists monitor space weather through her work with partners such as NASA and the European Space Agency, and as co-lead of Space-Defence Technologies Alberta.

Spanswick says Knudsen has left the department in a strong position.

“My focus moving forward is to build on this momentum — supporting our ambitious research, strengthening our teaching, and ensuring faculty, staff and students are heard,” she says.