I am a theoretical astrophysicist specializing in cosmology. My research focuses on dark matter, dark energy, and how we can use observations of the cosmic microwave background and distribution of galaxies to learn more about what these mysterious substances actually are. I am also interested in how global deviations of the CMB from a perfect thermal spectrum (“spectral distortions”) can tell us about energy-injecting processes in the first ~380,000 years of cosmic time, and the atomic physics relevant to t
I am an Assistant Professor of Physics at Haverford College , just outside Philadelphia, PA, where I get to share my love of physics with our wonderful, curious students, in the classroom, and by supervising undergraduate research. Previously, I was an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago , based at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) and Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics . Before that, I was a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study , a
In addition to research and teaching, I enjoy interacting with the public and participating in outreach. My outreach efforts are focused on bringing knowledge of astrophysics and cosmology to older adults throughout Chicago. With my collaborators, I have brought gerontologist-coached presentations by experts in the field to ~1400 Chicago older adults at city senior centers and public libraries , many of whom have also come to the Adler Planetarium to experience this content from another perspective. Please