The Canadian Association of Physicists' Educational Trust Fund (CAP-ETF)  and the OSA Foundation (OSAF) have partnered to establish the Boris P. Stoicheff Memorial Graduate Scholarship as a memorial to Boris P. Stoicheff, an eminent, internationally renowned laser spectroscopist who also served as President of the Canadian Association of Physicists (1983-84) and the Optical Society of America (1976).

The joint CAP-ETF/OSAF scholarship in the amount of $3,000 will be awarded to a graduate student who has demonstrated both research excellence and significant service to the optics or physics community.  The scholarship is awarded jointly by ETF and the OSAF, with the administration and presentation of the scholarship rotating between the two societies.

The inaugural Stoicheff Memorial Graduate scholarship was awarded to Wilson Brenna from the University of Waterloo who, as as an undergraduate and graduate student, has demonstrated both academic excellence as well as leadership in helping to organize conferences and being on the Executive of committees to benefit his fellow students. The $3k (Cdn) prize award was presented to Wilson during the 2012 CAP Congress at the University of Calgary. The 2013 scholarship will be administered and awarded by OSAF.

About the Stoicheff Fund

The 2011 campaign goal was for the CAP-ETF and OSAF to collectively raise at least $40,000 USD to establish the Boris P. Stoicheff Memorial Scholarship honoring Dr. Stoicheff’s legacy now, and for generations to come. The Canadian leg of the campaign was coordinated by then CAP President Henry van Driel.  Due to the generosity of CAP members and friends of Dr. Stoicheff, the goal was exceeded, allowing for the establishment of an annual scholarship of $3,000, awarded alternately by the CAP-ETF and the OSAF.  The prize will be awarded in the currency of the administering society.

Our goal is to permanently endow a graduate student scholarship in Dr. Stoicheff's name. Such a tribute is particularly appropriate since, of all his accomplishments, Dr. Stoicheff was most proud of the more than 25 graduate students that had the privilege to work with him. Donations in support of this fund continue to be welcomed and can be made by using the links below.