I am an experimental cosmologist with a current focus on the search for primordial gravitational waves through observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). My research involves the design, implementation, and characterization of cryogenic cameras used in millimeter and submillimeter observations as well as subsequent data analysis from on-sky observations. I am heavily involved with the Simons Observatory (https://simonsobservatory.org/), specifically the small aperture telescopes which are designed to observe the polarized CMB signal at large angular scales. In order to maximize returns of the instrument and go after more ambitious scientific targets such as cosmic birefringence, I am also involved in an ambitious drone based calibration project called Hover-Cal (https://sites.google.com/uc.cl/hover-cal/home). Both experiments are operated from our site in Chile’s Atacama Desert at an altitude of 5,200 m.
Recently the CMB-S4 project (https://cmb-s4.org/) has received wide support from the cosmology, physics, and astronomy communities allowing it to move forward. I am involved with the project in both design and testing aspects surrounding the small aperture telescopes. CMB-S4 will combine the efforts and capabilities of the broader CMB community to greatly increase the capabilities of ground-based CMB observations over the next decade.
I am also leading efforts to develop future space-based technologies and provide the best measurements to-date of the galactic dust that obscures CMB signals with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope Observatory (BLAST-Obs, https://sites.northwestern.edu/blast/). Previous iterations of the experiment have brought me to Antarctica twice for launches with NASA’s ballooning program. We are targeting the next flight of BLAST-Obs to be from New Zealand in 2026.
Undergraduates will typically have hands-on projects in the lab. As such, remote participation is not available.