Anne-Sophie Poulin-Girard

Anne-Sophie Poulin-Girard holds a Ph.D. in Physics (Optical Engineering and Computer Vision) from Université Laval. She currently works as a systems scientist in the Space and Defense Systems division of ABB Inc. Previously, she served as scientific co-ordinator for the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Neurophotonics at the CERVO Brain Research Centre and then as a professional researcher at the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Lens Design at Université Laval.

Dr. Poulin-Girard’s research deals with design and implementation of advanced optical systems for a wide variety of applications. For the past several years, she has been working on astronomical instruments in particular. She is participating in several projects in collaboration with foreign organizations and institutions and industry, including the HiCIBaS stratospheric balloon-borne telescope, GIRMOS and NIRPS She was also mission chief for the installation of the NIRPS spectrograph in Chile in 2022.

Dr. Poulin-Girard is a senior member of SPIE (the international society for optics and photonics) and of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America). She has also served on various technical committees and scholarship and grant award committees and as a reviewer for scientific journals. She is recognized by her peers for her work on education and promotion of scientific and engineering disciplines. She has co-chaired several international conferences in the field. She has written many scientific communications on ways of stimulating young people’s interest in science and has developed many different teaching tools and activities. From 2017 to 2019, she chaired the SPIE education committee and served on the SPIE strategic planning committee.

In addition to her scientific activities, Dr. Poulin-Girard works with local organizations in the field of education. From 2012 to 2018, she was a member of the jury for Forces Avenir, a Quebec organization whose mission is to promote student engagement. She holds a diploma of college studies in music and, to encourage perseverance and excellence among young musicians, established a scholarship program that was active in the Greater Quebec City Area from 2015 to 2020.