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Astrophysicist Patrick Brady at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee yesterday began his duties as spokesperson for the international scientific collaboration that studies gravitational waves using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). The spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) speaks on behalf of the 1,300 scientists in 20 countries who are engaged in gravitational wave research with data from observatories located in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. Brady, a UWM professor of physics and director of the Leonard E. Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics, is sixth in an elite group of scientists who have served as LSC spokespersons since the LSC formed in the late 1990s. Former spokespersons were Nobel Prize winner Rainer Weiss (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Peter Saulson (Syracuse University), Dave Reitze (Caltech), Gabriela Gonzalez (Louisiana State University) and David Shoemaker (MIT). Brady’s research focuses on the analysis and interpretation of data from the network of gravitational-wave detectors. He served on the executive committee of the LSC from 2004-2006, and has co-chaired the LSC Inspiral Analysis Group and chaired the LSC Data Analysis Software Working Group. He joined the UW-Milwaukee faculty in 1999, after a fellowship at Caltech. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and he shared in the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize. Video from 2017: https://www.pbs.org/video/measuring-gravity-waves-with-ligo-vkft6w/

McLaughlin's main research interests involve studying neutron stars and their environments through radio, X-ray and gamma-ray observations. Neutron stars are amazing physical laboratories for general relativity, studies of the interstellar medium, high-energy particle and plasma physics, and studies of stellar evolution. A significant research aim as a member of the NANOGrav collaboration, is to use neutron stars to detect gravitational waves through timing an array of ultra-precise millisecond pulsars. She served as chair and co-director of the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center and is also PI on an NSF IRES award which provides students with research experience through the International Pulsar Timing Array collaboration. Her work with the Pulsar Search Collaboratory involves West Virginia high school students in her research. She has been awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for her work.

Education:
B.S. Pennsylvania State University, 1994
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2001

Paul Davies is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist and best-selling science author. His work focuses on big questions including the origin of the universe, the origin of life and the mysteries of time.

Davies鈥� research interests have focused mainly on quantum gravity, early universe cosmology, the theory of quantum black holes and the nature of time. He has made important contributions to the field of astrobiology, and was an early advocate of the theory that life on Earth may have originated on Mars. He also ran a major cancer research project, and developed a new theory of cancer based on its deep evolutionary origins.

Davies is the director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and Regents Professor in the Department of Physics.

He has published about 30 books and hundreds of research papers and review articles across a range of scientific fields. He also is a well-known media personality and science popularizer.

Steve Desch is an astrophysicist studying formation and cycles of molecular activities in novel biomes.

By creating computational models, his lab is developing insights on historic events and climate change.

Desch鈥檚 lab has secured funding by NASA to study geochemical cycles on exoplanets in search for signs of life. He has created models for water on moons, asteroids, and other planetary bodies.

Desch is a professor for the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Asteroid 9926 Desch is named after him.

Rogier Windhorst is an expert in astronomy, astrophysics, and dark energy and matter.

Windhorst is a regents professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Windhorst's research focuses on astronomy, cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, the cosmic dark ages, the epoch of First Light, and astronomical instrumentation. 

He is a co-investigator and interdisciplinary scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb), the largest, most powerful and complex space science telescope ever built. The mission led by NASA, will serve as the premier deep space observatory for the next decade, exploring every phase of cosmic history 鈥� from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, and everything in between.

Prof. Mahendra Kumar Verma joined the Department in 1994. He obtained his doctoral degree at the University of Maryland, working under the joint supervision of Profs. Melvyn Goldstein and Aaron Roberts. He is a Nonlinear Dynamist whose chief interest lies in theoretical studies of Turbulence and Non-Linear Physics. Currently, he is working on the Statistical Theory of Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence and Dynamo. Dr. Verma is also interested in Atmospheric and Computational Physics. Apart from core courses, he has offered electives like Physics of Turbulence and Atmospheric Physics. He is also interested in primary school education.

Deborah Skapik, adjunct professor of physics at Saint Joseph’s University, has been studying eclipses for decades. A  and a , she earned her Master of Science degree in Astronomy from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawai’i in 1994
Following her graduation, she worked under Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College, who pursued eclipses across the globe. Pasachoff saw a record 36 total eclipses in his lifetime. 
Skapik herself has traveled globally to witness these stunning astronomical events. She also published the book “.”