Ray Jayawardhana, Canada research chair in observational astrophysics at the University of Toronto, has been named a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. Professor Jayawardhana was born in Sri Lanka and moved to the US to study at Yale University for his undergraduate degree. He then went on to Harvard and was awarded a doctorate in 2000. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan before moving to Toronto. His role at Harvard will allow him to focus on an individual project of his choice. "I'm excited about being part of the multidisciplinary community at the Radcliffe Institute," he said. "It's a wonderful opportunity to broaden my intellectual horizons and explore new avenues." Professor Jayawardhana is no stranger to accolades: in 2009, he received an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He is also well known for his work in making science accessible: his latest popular science book is Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System (2011) and he is a contributing editor to Astronomy magazine.