Writing on a snowy winter day with all its serenity, I reflect on the powerful momentum 2025 has created for the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. It has been a year of great achievements and discovery — a fitting prelude to our upcoming 40th anniversary and CITA@40 celebrations.
The year was headlined by world-class accolades for our senior faculty. We were proud to see Professor J. Richard Bond awarded the 2025 Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his foundational role in modern cosmology. Simultaneously, Professor Norman Murray achieved a historic string of honours, including election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. These honours underscore the impact of founding CITA faculty to the field of astrophysics and society at large.
Our researchers also keep pushing further the limits of scientific discovery. Through international partnerships, CITAzens have driven breakthroughs in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational wave catalogs, the Event Horizon Telescope’s imaging of black hole environments, and the Simons Collaboration on Extreme Electrodynamics. From simulating magnetized turbulence to refining the age of the universe via the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, our work remains the essential bridge between complex theory and world-leading observation.
Growth and renewal are equally vital to our mission. In 2025, we were thrilled to welcome Professor Pratika Dayal to our faculty, and we eagerly anticipate the 2026 arrival of Professor Sara Seager as the North Star Distinguished Professor. We are also extremely proud with the achievements of our postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, who won an impressive number of international fellowships and published in leading journals.
Beyond our walls, CITA’s global footprint has expanded through new strategic partnerships with Kavli IPMU (Tokyo) and Tsinghua University (Beijing), alongside renewed ties with the Flatiron Institute (New York) and Academia Sinica (Taipei). These agreements solidify CITA as a primary node in the international network of theoretical physics.
As we look toward 2026, all eyes are on CITA@40. This milestone gathering in Toronto will be more than an anniversary; it will be a reunion of our global alumni to celebrate our history and chart the future of the astrophysics field.
I want to thank our faculty, staff, and researchers for your tireless dedication to science. Your work places CITA at the heart of cosmic exploration and discovery.
Sincerely,
–Shantanu Basu
