CV: Dr. Barak Shoshany (he/him)

Also available online: https://baraksh.com/CV/

Employment

Education

Teaching and course development

Undergraduate and graduate courses taught as course instructor:

Mini-courses taught at various programs for high-school, undergraduate, or graduate students at Perimeter Institute:

Teaching assistant for graduate courses:

Publications

The following is a comprehensive list of my scientific publications. Students under my supervision are indicated in red. Authors are always ordered alphabetically by last name, not by level of contribution. All journal publications are freely accessible via their arXiv preprints.

Peer-reviewed publications:

  1. Barak Shoshany, "A C++17 Thread Pool for High-Performance Scientific Computing", doi:10.1016/j.softx.2024.101687, SoftwareX 26 (2024) 101687, arXiv:2105.00613 (March 2024)
  2. Barak Shoshany and Jared Wogan, "Wormhole Time Machines and Multiple Histories", Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 55, 44 (2023), doi:10.1007/s10714-023-03094-8, arXiv:2110.02448 (February 2023)
  3. Barak Shoshany, "OGRe: An Object-Oriented General Relativity Package for Mathematica", Journal of Open Source Software, 6(65), 3416 (2021), doi:10.21105/joss.03416, arXiv:2109.04193 (September 2021)
  4. Jacob Hauser and Barak Shoshany, "Time Travel Paradoxes and Multiple Histories", Phys. Rev. D 102, 064062 (2020), doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.102.064062, arXiv:1911.11590 (September 2020)
  5. Barak Shoshany, "Spin Networks and Cosmic Strings in 3+1 Dimensions", Class. Quantum Grav. 37 (2020) 085019, doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ab778e, arXiv:1911.07837 (March 2020)
  6. Barak Shoshany, "Lectures on Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel", SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 10 (2019), doi:10.21468/SciPostPhysLectNotes.10, arXiv:1907.04178 (October 2019)
  7. Barak Shoshany, "Dual 2+1D Loop Quantum Gravity on the Edge", Phys. Rev. D 100 026003 (2019), doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.100.026003, arXiv:1904.06386 (July 2019)
  8. Laurent Freidel, Florian Girelli, and Barak Shoshany, "2+1D Loop Quantum Gravity on the Edge", Phys. Rev. D 99 046003 (2019), doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.99.046003, arXiv:1811.04360 (February 2019)

Preprints (currently under review):

  1. Barak Shoshany and Ben Snodgrass, "Warp Drives, Rest Frame Transitions, and Closed Timelike Curves", doi:10.48550/arXiv.2309.10072, arXiv:2309.10072 (September 2023)
  2. Barak Shoshany and Zipora Stober, "Time Travel Paradoxes and Entangled Timelines", doi:10.48550/arXiv.2303.07635, arXiv:2303.07635 (March 2023)

Theses and lecture notes:

  1. Barak Shoshany, "At the Corner of Space and Time" (PhD Thesis), UWSpace, doi:10012/15296, arXiv:1912.02922 (December 2019)
  2. Barak Shoshany, "Thinking Quantum: Lectures on Quantum Theory", doi:10.48550/arXiv.1803.07098, arXiv:1803.07098 (March 2018)

See also: arXiv | INSPIRE | ORCID | Google Scholar

Scientific computing projects

Programming and markup languages I am highly proficient with include:

  • General purpose: C, C++, Python.
  • Scientific computing: Mathematica / Wolfram Language.
  • Web development: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP.
  • Command line: PowerShell, Bash.
  • Typesetting: LaTeX, Markdown.

My past and present scientific computing projects include:

  1. (Expected in 2024): WormholeSeek, software for detecting observational signatures of wormholes in astronomical data using modern machine learning algorithms, written in C++.
  2. (Expected in 2024): RelatiVisual, software for real-time ray tracing and visualization of spacetime geometries in general relativity using advanced CPU and GPU parallelization techniques, written in C++ and Python (utilizing OGRePy).
  3. (Expected in 2024): OGRePy, an object-oriented general relativity package for Python, a Python port of my Mathematica package OGRe (with Jared Wogan).
  4. 2024: My personal website, written in TypeScript and running on Node.js. While not exactly a scientific computing project, it includes computational science education content, such as dynamically generated practice tests and my own learning management system for ASTR 1P01/02.
  5. 2022: SpacetimeDiagrams.nb, an illustration of special-relativistic phenomena in Mathematica using spacetime diagrams. (Works with the freely available Wolfram Player.)
  6. 2021: WormholeParadoxSimulation.nb , a simulation of time travel paradoxes using a wormhole time machine in Mathematica (with Jared Wogan). (Works with the freely available Wolfram Player.)
  7. 2021: OGRe, an object-oriented general relativity package for Mathematica.
  8. 2021: BS::thread_pool, a C++17 thread pool for high-performance scientific computing.

Source code for all of my projects is freely and publicly available on my GitHub profile.

Grants and awards

  1. 2023: Brock University Faculty of Mathematics & Science Award for Excellence in Teaching (read article) (visit award page)
  2. 2023: Brock University Match of Minds Award ($5,000), student: Alessandro Pisana
  3. 2023: Brock University Research Initiative Award ($2,000)
  4. 2023: Mitacs Globalink Research Internship ($12,000), student: Gabriela Valencia
  5. 2022: Award from the Dean of Mathematics & Science at Brock University ($10,000)
  6. 2022: Brock University Research Initiative Award ($2,000)
  7. 2022: NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) ($6,000), student: Ben Dobozy
  8. 2022: Brock University Advancement Fund (BUAF) Explore Grant ($7,000)
  9. 2022: Mitacs Globalink Research Internship ($24,000), students: Zipora Stober and Ben Snodgrass
  10. 2021: Brock University Match of Minds Award ($5,000), student: Jared Wogan
  11. 2021: Brock University Advancement Fund (BUAF) Explore Grant ($7,000)
  12. 2020: Award from the Dean of Mathematics & Science at Brock University ($5,000)

Talks and conferences

  1. May 2023: "Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel", invited talk for the Niagara Branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Ontario, Canada)
  2. June 2022: "Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel: Science or Science Fiction?", invited talk for the "Hot Topics From Theory Made Accessible" symposium at the 2022 Canadian Association of Physicists Congress at McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) (YouTube video)
  3. May 2022: "Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel", invited talk at the Clubhouse Science Society (Clubhouse recording) (YouTube video)
  4. February 2022: "The Science and Fiction of Causality Violations", lecture for the Ridley College Science Club (Ontario, Canada)
  5. December 2021: "Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel", guest lecture for the course PHY 202 (Physics of Science Fiction & Gaming) at the University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
  6. November 2021: "The Science and Fiction of Causality Violations", seminar for graduate students in the Faculty of Mathematics & Science (GRAMSS) at Brock University (Ontario, Canada)
  7. November 2021: "The Science and Fiction of Causality Violations", PHYS 10 seminar at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada)
  8. March 2021: "OGRe: An Object-Oriented General Relativity Package for Mathematica" (online talk), Perimeter Institute (Ontario, Canada)
  9. June 2020: "Time Travel and Its Paradoxes" (online talk), Astrophysics Seminar, Bar-Ilan University (Israel) (YouTube video)
  10. May 2020: "Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel" (online talk), Carleton College (Minnesota, US)
  11. February 2020: "A Simple Introduction to Quantum Gravity", Saint Anselm College (New Hampshire, US)
  12. January 2020: "Faster-Than-Light Travel and Time Travel: Science or Science Fiction?", Physics Colloquium, McMaster University (Ontario, Canada)
  13. November 2019: "Quantum Gravity for the Loopy", University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada)
  14. October 2019: "...Travel Possible? Is Time...", Saint Anselm College (New Hampshire, US)
  15. October 2019: "...Travel Possible? Is Time...", Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (Massachusetts, US)
  16. August 2019: "Is Time Travel Possible?", Perimeter Institute (Ontario, Canada)
  17. June 2019: "Dual 2+1D Loop Quantum Gravity on the Edge", Loops 2019 Conference, Pennsylvania State University (Pennsylvania, US)
  18. January 2019: "2+1D Loop Quantum Gravity on the Edge" (online talk), International Loop Quantum Gravity Seminar
  19. November 2018: "Loop Quantum Gravity on the Edge", Quantum Gravity Group Meeting, Perimeter Institute
  20. October 2018: "Is Time Travel Possible?", Undergraduate Student Mentoring Event, Perimeter Institute
  21. August 2018: "Is Time Travel Possible?", Graduate Student Conference, Perimeter Institute
  22. April 2018: "The Geometry of Spacetime in Loop Quantum Gravity", Weizmann Institute (Israel)
  23. April 2018: "The Geometry of Spacetime in Loop Quantum Gravity", High Energy Theory Group Meeting, Tel Aviv University (Israel)
  24. March 2018: "Interpreting the Geometry of a Quantum State of Spacetime", PI Day, Perimeter Institute
  25. November 2017: "Loop Gravity and Piecewise-Flat Geometry", Quantum Gravity Day, Perimeter Institute
  26. August 2016: "Metastring Theory and Deformations of Worldsheet CFTs", Weizmann Institute

Media interviews

  1. April 2024: Interviewed for two Niagara Parks informational videos about the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse:
  2. April 2024: Interviewed by Allan Benner for an article in the St. Catharines Standard: "Brock Profs Looking Forward to 'Extraordinarily Rare' Event" (behind paywall; please contact me for the full article)
  3. March 2024: Interviewed by Mike Balsom for the TV show The Source on YourTV Niagara (watch on YouTube)
  4. March 2024: Interviewed by Jocelyn Titone for an article in The Brock News: "Brock Public Lectures to Educate on Eclipses, Sun and Moon Phases"
  5. November 2023: Interviewed by Maximiliano Fernández for an article on Infobae: ¿Se puede viajar en el tiempo y cambiar el pasado? Tres físicos explican por qué no es una locura (in Spanish)
  6. November 2023: Interviewed by Michael Marshall for a series of articles on BBC Future:
  7. June 2023: Interviewed by Jocelyn Titone for an article in The Brock News: "Critical Thinking Key to Debunking Misinformation, Says Teaching Award Recipient"
  8. April 2023: Interviewed by Kelly Botelho for the TV show Trending Now on CHCH (watch on YouTube)
  9. April 2023: Interviewed by Karl Dockstader on the radio station Newstalk 610 CKTB (listen on iHeartRadio)
  10. April 2023: Interviewed by Jocelyn Titone for an article in The Brock News: "One-Year Countdown: 2024 Solar Eclipse a Rare Sight in Niagara, Says Brock Prof"
  11. March 2023: Interviewed by Becca Caddy for an article in the German magazine Business Spotlight: "Time and Our Lives"
  12. January 2023: Interviewed by Paul Borrill on the "It's About Time!" Clubhouse (listen on Clubhouse)
  13. January 2023: Interviewed by Hanael Parks for the French YouTube channel NURÉA TV (English version) (French version)
  14. August 2022: Interviewed by Nam Kiwanuka for the TV show The Agenda on TVO (watch on TVO) (watch on YouTube)
  15. April 2022: Interviewed by Chelsea Bird and Daryl McIntyre on the radio station 630 CHED (listen on YouTube)
  16. December 2021: Interviewed for The Bill Kelly Show on the radio station 900 CHML (listen on YouTube)
  17. December 2021: Interviewed by Justin Steepe for an article in The Brock News: "New Brock Research Explores Time Travel Paradoxes"
  18. September 2020: Interviewed by Alexandra De Castro for an article in UA Magazine: "Back to Another Future" (read on Medium)
  19. July 2020: Interviewed for "Talking Science" ("Medabrim Mada"), Israel's leading science podcast (listen on PodBean) (listen on Spotify) (in Hebrew)
  20. December 2019: Interviewed by Chelsea Whyte for an article in New Scientist Magazine: "Time Travel Without Paradoxes Is Possible with Many Parallel Timelines" (read on ScienceDirect) (behind paywall; please contact me for the full article)
  21. September 2019: Interviewed by Colin Hunter for an article in Inside the Perimeter: "People of PI: Quantum Composer Barak Shoshany"
  22. August 2019: Interviewed for an educational video for grade 12 physics students about classical and quantum field theory.
  23. April 2018: Interviewed by Colin Hunter for an article in Slice of PI: "#MyFavouriteEquation - Scientists Share Their Fave Formulae"

See also this YouTube playlist which includes all of the interviews that were made available on YouTube.

Outreach activities

  1. April 2024: Participated in the Eclipse 2024: Chasing the Shadow from Niagara to Newfoundland livestream event, organized by the University of Toronto's Dunlap Institute in collaboration with Brock University, Queen's University, Bishop's University, and Memorial University, which had more than 78,000 viewers on YouTube
  2. April 2024: Gave a public lecture to the Niagara community at Brock University about the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse (read article)
  3. March 2024: Gave a lecture about the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse for the Brock University Retirees Association (Ontario, Canada)
  4. June 2023: Gave the convocation address at Brock University's 113th convocation, focusing on using critical thinking to fight misinformation. (read article) (watch convocation address on YouTube) (watch full convocation on YouTube)
  5. May 2023: Interviewed by a grade 10 student from Westlane Secondary School (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada) for a school project
  6. March-May 2023: Mentored two girls in grade 9 who are interested in astronomy and physics, as part of the Girls SySTEM Mentorship Program
  7. May 2022-February 2023: Mentored a high-school student in a project on time travel in science fiction as part of Brock University's Science Mentorship Program
  8. May 2022: Consulted for the episode "Can we escape a black hole with a warp drive or wormhole?" of the science podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe by Daniel Whiteson and Jorge Cham
  9. May 2022: Delivered a project on spacetime diagrams for Scientifically Yours, a two-day science workshop for grade 10-11 students at Brock University
  10. April 2022: Wrote an article on time travel paradoxes for The Conversation
  11. April 2021: Gave an online lecture entitled "Advice for a Career in Physics" at SNOLAB / SNO+
  12. May-June 2020: Advised an Ontario high-school student in making a video about quarks for the Breakthrough Junior Challenge Competition
  13. April 2020: Wrote an article on time travel paradoxes (in Hebrew) for the Israeli science outreach non-profit "Little Big Science" ("Mada Gadol Baktana") (also on Facebook)
  14. August 2019: Gave a lecture on faster-than-light travel and time travel to international high-school students attending the Quantum Cryptography School for Young Students (QCSYS) at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC)
  15. July 2019: Gave a keynote lecture about time travel to Chinese undergraduate students attending the Exploring Science summer program at the University of Waterloo's Renison University College
  16. September-October 2018: Gave lectures and Q&A sessions to University of Waterloo undergraduate students during mentoring events at Perimeter Institute
  17. May 2018: Gave an online Q&A session on quantum gravity, quantum mechanics, and quantum computing to a class of grade 11 AP Physics students at Collingwood School (West Vancouver, BC, Canada)
  18. May 2018: Provided hands-on physics demonstrations to grade 6-8 students as part of a LAUNCH Waterloo event
  19. December 2017: Gave a Q&A session to Canadian physics teachers as part of the Teacher Network Initiative
  20. March 2017: Participated as a judge in the Canada Young Physicists' Tournament (CaYPT)
  21. 2016-2017: Interacted with the general public and answered their questions about theoretical physics as part of the annual Open Doors Day at Perimeter Institute
  22. May 2015: Gave a Q&A session on cosmology to high-school students at Perimeter Institute
  23. 2015-2019: Gave a variety of keynote lectures and Q&A sessions to Canadian and international physics teachers as part of the annual EinsteinPlus Workshop
  24. October 2014: Gave a lecture on fractals and chaos theory at Huron Heights Secondary School (Kitchener, ON, Canada)
  25. 2014-2019: Interacted with the general public and answered their questions about theoretical physics, both in-person and online, as part of "Ask a Scientist" events in conjunction with monthly public lectures at Perimeter Institute (Waterloo, ON, Canada)
  26. 2013-2016: Answered more than 1,000 math and physics questions on the popular Q&A website Quora, gained more than 7,000 followers, and awarded "Top Writer" status in both 2015 and 2016
  27. 2005-2010: Created and contributed to numerous articles on mathematics, physics, and music on Wikipedia, and served as administrator (sysop) between 2008 and 2010

Service and organization

Award committee memberships:

  1. November 2023: Member of the adjudication committee for the 2023 Brock University Teaching Awards.

Professional memberships:

  1. 2022-present: Member of the Canadian Association of Physicists.
  2. 2008-2014: Member of the Israeli Astronomical Association.

Organizing committee memberships:

  1. May 2022-present: Member and founder of the Brock University solar eclipse planning committee.
  2. October 2022-present: Member of a group of faculty members developing a new computational framework for the physics undergraduate curriculum at Brock University.
  3. July 2021-April 2024: Member of the organizing committee for the Ontario Eclipse 2024 Task Force, which prepared and coordinated province-wide scientific outreach activities for the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024.
  4. July 2021-May 2022: Member of the organizing committee for Scientifically Yours, a two-day science workshop for grade 10-11 students at Brock University.
  5. 2019: Member of the organizing Committee for the undergraduate summer program at Perimeter Institute.
  6. 2018: Member of the organizing Committee for a two-day conference featuring diverse talks aimed at master's-level students in the Perimeter Scholars International Program at Perimeter Institute.
  7. 2014-2015: Sole organizer and chair for "PSIminar", a series of seminars given by students in the Perimeter Scholars International Program at Perimeter Institute.
  8. 2012: Sole organizer, host, and performer in a concert featuring CERN summer students, which took place in the CERN main auditorium.

Supervisory committee memberships:

Hooman Nanchian

  • Degree: MSc
  • Supervisor: Kirill Samokhin
  • Committee members: Barak Shoshany, Edward Sternin

Mahdieh Gol Bashmani Moghadam

  • Degree: PhD
  • Supervisor: Stephen Anco
  • Committee members: Barak Shoshany, Kirill Samokhin

Jaskaran Maan

  • Degree: MSc
  • Supervisor: Stephen Anco
  • Committee members: Barak Shoshany, Edward Sternin

Comprehensive examination committee memberships:

Samin Tajik

  • Degree: PhD
  • Supervisor: Thad Harroun
  • Supervisory committee members: Edward Sternin, Kirill Samokhin
  • Examiners: Barak Shoshany, David Crandles