Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos

2022-02-18

The Sloan Foundation has announced that Dr. David Radice, assistant professor of physics and astronomy/astrophysics and member of the IGC, has been selected as a 2022 Sloan Fellow.

Penn State is delighted to serve as a site for the 2023 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.

2022-02-18

Penn State is delighted to serve as a site for the 2023 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics. The organizational effort is led by IGC graduate student Unnati Akhouri, together with students Šárka Blahnik and Julian Mintz under the supervision of the local organizing commitee - Prof. Doug Cowen, Prof. Sarah Shandera, Prof. Miguel Mostafá, Prof. Louis Leblond and Prof. Kirstin Purdy-Drew. The effort is backed by the Department of Physics and the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. The committee has also garnered local support from the Eberly College of Science, Department for Astronomy and Astrophysics, MRSEC, Centre for Excellence in Science Education and the student groups Physics and Astronomy for Women+, Society for Physics Students and Towards a More Inclusive Astronomy. The conference will the held January 20-23, 2023 at Penn State. More information about registration and application deadlines will be out soon. We look forward to hosting many accomplished guest speakers and a fantastic cohort of undergraduate physicists!

2022-02-04

IGC member B.S. Sathyaprakash was a co-chair of the Science Team of the Gravitational Wave International Committee, charged to develop a vision for the next generation of ground-based gravitational wave detectors.

Stephanie Wissel has been selected for the Downsbrough Early Career Professor in Physics!

2022-01-18

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Stephanie Wissel, assistant professor of physics and astronomy/astrophysics, has been selected for the Downsbrough Early Career Professor in Physics! Stephanie works in experimental astro-particle physics with expertise in the detection and study of cosmic neutrinos. She’s pursuing the discovery of cosmogenic and astrophysical neutrinos at ultra-high energies (greater than 100 PeV) using radio detection techniques. These experiments will provide unprecedented insight into Nature’s highest energy accelerators and into the physics of extreme environments such as pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, and active galactic nuclei. Stephanie also plays a key role in our department’s educational, service, and outreach missions, including taking leadership in our efforts to build an inclusive, diverse community of graduate students and postdocs. Please join us in congratulating Stephanie on this well-deserved honor!

2022-01-18

Astrophysicist Yuexing Li’s quest began with quasars, luminous galaxies powered by supermassive black holes actively devouring matter and releasing enormous amounts of electromagnetic radiation so hot and bright we can see it more than 13 billion light years away.

2022-01-15

The series will consist of 6 public lectures, held on consecutive Saturdays via Zoom.