Jason McKeever, '94 - at TFS from 1980 to 1994

A Toronto French School "lifer", Jason came to TFS in preschool in 1980. During his Senior School years he developed an interest in physics, and in 1994, his graduation year, he was invited to the National Finals for the Canadian Physics Olympiad team.  It seemed only natural that he would leave TFS to study physics at the University of Toronto.

Jason obtained his BSc in 1998, and in the fall of that same year he started his PhD at Caltech, in Pasadena, California.  There he joined a research group led by Professor Jeff Kimble in the area of quantum optics and atomic physics, specifically trapping single Cesium atoms inside a very small optical cavity.  Jason and his colleagues' research resulted in several publications.  Jason received his PhD in the spring of 2004 and was awarded the Optical Society of America Bookham/New Focus Student Award.  This competition attracted more than 30 submissions from a variety of prominent institutions both in the United States and abroad. 

“My TFS education has helped me both in my career as a physicist and in life,” says Jason.  “The IB higher physics and math programs sparked my interest in physics and provided an excellent foundation for my university studies and my Ph.D. research.”

With his PhD in hand, Jason decided to continue his research in physics and is pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, France.  His knowledge of the French language is certainly coming in handy.

Jason continues, “My TFS education in French starting in preschool has been especially useful these past two years in Paris!  More broadly speaking, the TFS education and the diverse mix of students and teachers provided me with a unique international perspective.”

Posted October 24, 2006