From CASS
Faculty and Researchers
Faculty and researchers from several departments (e.g., Physics, ECE, Chemistry, and others) lead cutting edge research efforts in the diverse fields of astronomy and astrophysics. CASS researchers seek to understand the events and processes that shape our universe: the origins of structure and the elements, the nature of space and time, the formation of stars and galaxies, and supernova explosions.
Professors
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Arnold, Kam
- Assistant Professor, Physics
- Email: ksarnold@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 404
- Lab: SERF 460
- Phone: (510) 717-2321 cell
- Kam's research focuses on measurement of the intensity and polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). His future plans include developing technology for the next generation of detectors/telescopes.
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Boggs, Steven
- Dean of the Division of Physical Sciences
Chancellor's Associates Endowed Chair in Physics
Professor, Physics
- Email: seboggs@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 412
- Lab: SERF 462
- Phone: (858) 534-8016
- Experimental high energy astrophysics
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Burgasser, Adam
- Professor, Physics
Director of the Cool Star Lab
- Email: aburgasser@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 340
- Phone: (858) 822-6958
- Observational astrophysics, focusing on very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs; low-temperature stellar and planetary atmospheres; stellar multiplicity; Galactic stellar populations; Physics & Astronomy education; Equity & Inclusion in the physical sciences
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Coil, Alison
- Professor, Physics
Ingrid and Joseph W. Hibben Chair
Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
& Faculty Equity Advisor, Division of Physical Sciences
- Email: acoil@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 424
- Phone: (858) 822-3940
- Observational astrophysics, with a focus on galaxy evolution, observational cosmology, and large-scale structure
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Day, James
- Associate Professor, Geosciences Research Division,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
- Email: jmdday@ucsd.edu
- Office: Vaughan Hall 306
- Phone: (858) 534-5431
- Research themes: Earth and Planetary Chemistry, Earth through Space and time. Research topics: High Temperature Geochemistry, Isotopic Geochemistry, Planetary Sciences and Meteoritics, Volcanology.
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Fuller, George
- Distinguished Professor, Physics
Director of CASS
- Email: gfuller@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 409
- Phone: (858) 534-9085
- Theoretical Astrophysics. Theoretical Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics. Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics. General relativity, especially as regards instability in massive objects. Physics of the early universe; gravitational collapse and supernovae, compact objects; nuclear and quark matter; the origin of nuclei, especially the light elements in the Big Bang and the heavy elements in supernovae; the weak interaction and neutrinos. A common theme running through much of Professor Fuller's work is the interplay of the weak interaction, nuclei, and gravitation.
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Holst, Michael
- Professor, Mathematics and Physics
Co-Director, Center for Computational Mathematics (CCoM)
within the Mathematics Department
- Email: mholst@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 405
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Keating, Brian
- Professor, Physics
- Email: bkeating@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 327
- Lab: SERF 375
- Phone: (858) 534-7930
- Observational and experimental cosmology, polarization and temperature measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), near-infrared background measurements and cosmological reionization. Low noise detector and modulation mechanisms, microwave and infrared optics.
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Konopacky, Quinn
- Assistant Professor, Physics
- Email: qkonopacky@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 338
- Phone: (858) 246-0241
- Planet formation and evolution; high contrast imaging; star formation; stellar and substellar evolution; orbital dynamics; high angular resolution imaging and spectroscopy; adaptive optics; astrometry; speckle interferometry; optical and infrared astronomy.
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Lin, Tongyan
- Assistant Professor, Physics
- Email: tongyan@physics.ucsd.edu
- Office: MH 5210
- The existence of dark matter is the most striking evidence of physics beyond the standard model, yet the properties of dark matter are unknown. My research aims to address basic questions about dark matter, such as what kinds of non-gravitational interactions it has.
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Murphy, Thomas
- Professor, Physics
Associate Director of CASS
- Email: tmurphy@physics.ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 336
- Lab: SERF 464
- Phone: (858) 534-1844
- Solar-system tests of general relativity; Energy and the environment
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Norman, Michael
- Distinguished Professor, Physics
Director of SDSC
- Email: mlnorman@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 423
- Phone: (858) 822-4194
- Computational Astrophysics: Cosmology, galaxy formation, star formation, high-energy astrophysics.
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Rebeiz, Gabriel
- Professor, ECE
- Email: grebeiz@ucsd.edu
- Office: EBU-I 5608
- Phone: (858) 534-8001
- Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) for microwave applications, design of radio frequency/microwave/millimeter-wave systems with radio-astronomical applications.
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Sandstrom, Karin
- Assistant Professor, Physics
- Email: kmsandstrom@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 426
- Phone: (858) 246-0552
- Interstellar medium: the gas and dust between the stars in a galaxy, particularly the properties of interstellar dust - how dust properties evolve over time, vary within and among galaxies, and how they influence the physics of the interstellar medium.
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Serra, Mattia
- Assistant Professor, Physics
- Email: mserra@ucsd.edu
- Office: Urey Hall 7218
- Phone: (858) 534-0524
- Nonlinear Dynamics, Mathematical Modeling, Theoretical Biophysics
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Sievenpiper, Dan
- Professor, ECE
- Email: dsievenpiper@eng.ucsd.edu
- Office: Jacobs Hall 3209
- Phone: (858) 822-6678
- Periodic structures, artificial impedance surfaces, metamaterials and metasurfaces, antennas, integration of active electronics with electromagnetic structures, active impedance matching, high power microwave generation or mitigation, biological applications of electromagnetics.
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Thiemens, Mark
- Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dean, Division of Physical Sciences
- Email: mthiemens@ucsd.edu
- Office: UH 2040
- Phone: (858) 534-6732
- Cosmochemistry
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Wright, Shelley
- Associate Professor, Physics
- Email: saw@physics.ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 414
- Lab: SERF 463-463A
- Phone: (858) 534-3316
- Experimental and observational astrophysics, optical and infrared instrumentation, adaptive optics, galaxy formation and evolution, and SETI.
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Researchers
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Kritsuk, Alexei
- Research Scientist, CASS
- Email: akritsuk@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 333A
- Phone: (858) 534-2943
- Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics: Physics of the multiphase interstellar medium, molecular clouds, star formation, and feedback processes. Intracluster medium, AGN feedback,and turbulence in clusters of galaxies. Compressible magnetized turbulence in astrophysical systems and beyond.
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Maire, Jerome
- Assistant Project Scientist, CASS
- Email: jmaire@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 463
- Interested in developing high-angular resolution instrumentation, high-contrast imaging techniques and high-time resolution astronomy.
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Markowitz, Alex
- Associate Research Scientist, CASS
- Email: almarkowitz@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 438 (4th floor visitor office)
- Exploring accretion mechanisms in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), mainly via X-ray spectroscopy and variability. Exploring the geometry and accretion behavior of circumnuclear material around supermassive black holes across a range of length scales, from the region of extreme gravity to parsec scales. Connections between AGN and stellar-mass accreting compact objects. Links between black hole mass, luminosity, and continuum variability. Links between accretion disks and relativistic jets.
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Melis, Carl
- Associate Research Scientist, CASS
- Email: cmelis@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 339
- Phone: (858) 534-6627
- Debris disks around nearby main sequence stars, ancient planetary systems and their composition through the study of white dwarf stars, actively accreting dusty first-ascent giant stars, radio interferometric imaging of protoplanetary disks, very-long baseline imaging astrometry, cool brown dwarfs as companions to nearby stars.
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Puetter, Richard
- Recalled: Research Physicist, CASS
Founder and Chief Science Officer, Pixon Imaging
- Email: rpuetter@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 438 (4th floor visitor office)
- Quasars/AGN, IR astronomy, interstellar medium, radiative transfer, computational physics, inverse problems, image reconstruction, complexity theory, image compression
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Rephaeli, Yoel
- Research Scientist, CASS
- Email: yrephaeli@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 437
- Phone: (858) 534-1151 Office; (650) 439-8651 Cell
- Cosmology and high energy astrophysics, with main current foci on CMB cosmology, astrophysics of galaxy clusters, and high energy emission from starburst galaxies
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Rothschild, Richard
- Research Scientist, CASS
Adjunct Lecturer, Physics
Lead Scientist of the High Energy Astrophysics group in CASS
- Email: rrothschild@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 413
- Phone: (858) 534-3462
- High energy astrophysics, including but not limited to accreting X-ray pulsars, active galactic nuclei, high energy emission from clusters of galaxies; nuclear astrophysics, including the 511 keV positron annihilation radiation, and other line radiation (Al-26, Ti-44, etc.); high energy astrophysics instrumentation, including coded mask imaging and hard X-ray imaging telescopes; mission development, such as the MIRAX concept to monitor X-ray temporal variability for the central region of the Galaxy, hard X-ray telescope missions such as Nustar, Astro-H, and the International X-ray Observatory; humanitarian demining; and detection/monitoring of radionuclides at a distance.
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Professors Emeriti & Retired Researchers
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Arnold, James
- Professor Arnold passed away January 6, 2012
Professor Emeritus, Chemistry
- Cosmochemistry
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Burbidge, Geoffrey
- Professor Geoff Burbidge passed away January 26, 2010
Professor Emeritus, Physics
- Theoretical astrophysics: Physics of active galaxies & quasi-stellar objects, nonthermal radiation processes, cosmology
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Burbidge, Margaret
- Professor E. Margaret Burbidge passed away April 5, 2020
Professor Emeritus, Physics
- Theoretical astrophysics: Physics of active galaxies & quasi-stellar objects, nonthermal radiation processes, cosmology
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Coles, William
- Professor Emeritus, ECE
- Email: bcoles@ucsd.edu
- Office: EBU-I 2407
- Phone: (858) 534-2703
- Solar Space Physics: Structure & turbulence in the solar wind; interstellar & interplanetary scintillation, theory of wave propagation.
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Friedman, Andrew
- Dr. Andrew Friedman passed away July 10, 2020
Assistant Research Scientist
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Griest, Kim
- Professor Emeritus, Physics
- Email: kgriest@ucsd.edu
- Office: MH 3206 / SERF 337
- Phone: (858) 534-0924/8914
- Particle astrophysics/MACHO Project
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Lingenfelter, Richard
- Dr. Lingenfelter passed away March 20, 2021
Research Physicist Emeritus, CASS
- Email: rlingenfelter@ucsd.edu
- Office: SERF 402
- Phone: (858) 534-2464
- His research interests ranged broadly from high-energy astrophysics theory in the origin and interactions of cosmic rays and the sources of gamma rays, through solar flare physics of neutron and gamma-ray emission, meteoritic isotope production, water on the Moon and Mars, and geophysics in radiocarbon and atmospheric neutron production, radiation belt sources, river flood flows, cloud formation and volcanoes, all the way to the history of the American West and Pacific Islands, mining labor and finance, and folk songs.
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Matteson, James
- Research Scientist-Retired, CASS
- Email: jmatteson@ucsd.edu
- X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. Interactions and background effects of photon and particle radiation. Design and experimental characterization of position-sensitive solid-state detectors. Design and performance-modeling of X-ray and gamma-ray imaging instruments.
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Paar, Hans
- Professor Hans Paar passed away June 17, 2018
Professor Emeritus, Physics
- Experimental cosmology, in particular the experimental study of the properties of the Cosmic Microwave Background with emphasis on its polarization.
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Ride, Sally
- Professor Ride passed away July 23, 2012
Professor Emeritus, Physics
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Vernon, Wayne
- Professor Vernon passed away February 22, 2015
Research Professor Emeritus, Physics
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Wolfe, Arthur
- Professor Wolfe passed away February 17, 2014
Professor Emeritus, Physics and Endowed Chair
Former Chancellor's Associates Chair IV
- Galaxy formation - observation and theory
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