Contact Information
1110 W Green
M/C 704
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
Research Interests
Observational Cosmology
Particle Astrophysics
Instrumentation
Research Description
My research interests lie at the intersection between the universe's workings on its largest and smallest scales. Recent work includes:(1) Observational cosmology with the cosmic microwave background, particularly the search for evidence of primordial gravitational waves with balloon-borne (SPIDER) and terrestrial (the BICEP/KeckArray program) instruments.(2) Searches for the interactions of particle dark matter in terrestrial detectors.(3) Development of advanced instrumentation for astrophysics and fundamental physics, often involving detectors operated at sub-Kelvin temperatures.My work involves both instrumentation development and data analysis.
Education
Physics, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Chemistry & Physics, A.B., Harvard University
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Head, Research and Facilities, Physics
Associate Professor, Physics
Associate Professor, Astronomy
External Links
Recent Publications
Bracks, J. S., Keenan, R. P., Agrawal, S., Keating, G. K., Aguirre, J. E., Lidz, A., Bradford, C. M., Brendal, B., Filippini, J. P., Fu, J., Garcia, K., Groppi, C., Hailey-Dunsheath, S., Janssen, R. M. J., Kang, W., Liu, L. J., Lowe, I., Manduca, A., Marrone, D. P., ... Zebrowski, J. A. (2026). Forecasting the Cross Correlation of Terahertz Intensity Mapper [Cii] Line Intensity Maps with Euclid Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal, 1005(1), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae75b5
Polish, A. R., Ade, P. A. R., Ahmed, Z., Amiri, M., Barkats, D., Thakur, R. B., Bischoff, C. A., Beck, D., Bock, J. J., Boenish, H., Buza, V., Cantrall, B., Cheshire, J. R., Connors, J., Cornelison, J., Crumrine, M., Cukierman, A. J., Denison, E., Duband, L., ... Zhang, S. (2026). Improved Absolute Polarization Calibrator for BICEP CMB Polarimeters. EPJ Web of Conferences, 353, Article 01013. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202635301013
Zhang, S., Ade, P. A. R., Ahmed, Z., Amiri, M., Barkats, D., Thakur, R. B., Bischoff, C. A., Beck, D., Bock, J. J., Boenish, H., Buza, V., Cantrall, B., Cheshire, J. R., Connors, J., Cornelison, J., Crumrine, M., Cukierman, A. J., Denison, E., Duband, L., ... Zhang, C. (2026). Performance and Sensitivity of the BICEP Array 150 GHz Receiver. IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 36(6), Article 2103707. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2026.3698692
(BICEP/Keck Collaboration) (2026). BICEP/Keck. XIX. Extremely Thin Composite Polymer Vacuum Windows for BICEP and Other High-throughput Millimeter-wave Telescopes. Astrophysical Journal, 1000(2), Article 238. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae486d
Bicep/Keck collaboration (2026). BICEP/Keck. XX. Component-separated Maps of the Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background and Thermal Dust Emission Using Planck and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season. Astrophysical Journal, 999(1), Article 89. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae3e53