海角社区

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/

Dr. Lou Strolger is the Deputy Head of the Instruments Division, and Observatory Scientist at STScI. He is primarily concerned with clues to the nature of supernova progenitors through bulk analyses; rates, environmental effects (star-formation, metallicity, etc.), and the global evolution of these properties over the history of the Universe. He is also involved in projects on four robotic telescopes; three in space 鈥� the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope; and the RCT 1.3-meter on the ground. He is active in a number of initiatives addressing underrepresented minorities in astronomy and physics, and looking at approaches to improve recruitment and retention.

As the chair of the Space Telescope Science Institute鈥檚 science staff, Dr. Marc Postman works to strengthen the Institute's research productivity by advocating for the needs of the research staff. He monitors the use of research-enabling resources, oversees the peer mentoring program, seeks ways to enhance the scientific environment, and consults with the research staff to guide the institute toward exciting research initiatives. 
From 2005 to 2019, Dr. Postman led the community missions office, where he guided the institute鈥檚 role in providing science operations support for a number of ground- and space-based observatories that are led by independent astronomical groups in partnership with STScI,
Dr. Postman鈥檚 primary research interest has been the formation and evolution of structure in the universe, from galaxies to the largest superclusters. He was a member of the science investigation team for the Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument that was deployed on the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002. From 2010 to 2017, Dr. Postman lead an international team of researchers to conduct a 525-orbit survey with the Hubble telescope to study dark matter in galaxy clusters and to detect some of the most distant galaxies in the universe. Dr. Postman has published over 185 refereed research articles and currently holds the title of Distinguished Astronomer.

Dr. Adam G. Riess is a Distinguished Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the Johns Hopkins University. His research involves measurements of the cosmological framework with supernovae (exploding stars) and Cepheids (pulsating stars). In 1998, Dr. Riess led a study for the High-z Team which provided the first direct and published evidence that the expansion of the Universe was accelerating and filled with Dark Energy (Riess et al. 1998, AJ, 116, 1009). This discovery, together with the Supernova Cosmology Project's result, was called the Breakthrough Discovery of the Year by Science Magazine in 1998. In 2011, he was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal for his leadership in this study. Currently, he leads the SHOES Team in efforts to improve the measurement of the Hubble Constant and the HIgher-z Team to find and measure the most distant type Ia supernovae known to probe the origin of cosmic acceleration.聽

Meenakshi Wadhwa is an expert in cosmology, cosmochemistry and various planetary sciences. 

Her research focuses on time scales and the processes involved in the formation and evolution of the solar system and planets.

Wadhwa is the director and professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

She has hunted for meteorites in Antactica with the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program.

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.

Jason Steffen is an expert in astronomy, dark matter, physics, and exoplanets --planets that orbit distant stars. He has been a member of the science team for NASA's Kepler mission, and continues to analyze data from that mission to understand the properties of planets and planetary systems. 
Education

Ph.D. in Physics, University of Washington, Seattle
B.S. in Physics and Mathematic, Weber State University