University of Washington Bothell
UW Bothell hosted a Physics Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) for the summer of 2024 with students working in climate science and gravitational wave astronomy research. The students presented their research at the UW Bothell REU Symposium with summer research students from the UW Bothell Math REU and the Center for Biotechnology Innovation and Training (CBIT).
Check out the 2024 cohort, the UW Bothell Physics REU Instagram @uwbphysicsreu, and the UW Bothell news story.
The UW Bothell School of STEM hosted its inaugural award ceremony and recognized students and faculty for their outstanding achievements, leadership, and service during the academic year. Physics student awards were presented for Student Success, Academic Achievement, Outstanding Research, and Outstanding Peer Facilitator.
The first Sr. Chief Ronald G. Gamboa Endowed UW Bothell STEM Faculty Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Joey Shapiro Key in recognition of outstanding contributions in undergraduate research mentorship, broadening participation from underserved communities and inspiring the next generation of UW Bothell School of STEM graduates to make a positive impact in their broader community and the world.
Read more on the UW Bothell STEM blog post.
NASA has selected six US scientists to serve on the joint ESA-NASA Science Team for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, including Dr. Joey Shapiro Key from the University of Washington Bothell. The LISA Science Team will provide scientific stewardship for the mission and serve as ambassadors between the agencies and the scientific community.
Read the NASA announcement, article from Montana State University, and UW Bothell STEM post.
Congratulations to Harini Thiagarajan and Vishal Yalla for winning first place in the physics and astronomy category at the 2024 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)! They worked with Dr. Neunzert on their project Implementation of an Integrated Machine Learning Pipeline for LIGO Continuous Gravitational Wave Searches.
Read more from ISEF.
UWB physics student Carol Miu has been awarded a scholarship from the Mary Gates Endowment for Students providing $5,000 to support her research project Comparing Narrow Spectral Artifact Line Finders to Enable Continuous Wave Searches in LIGO Data. She will present her work at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium on May 17.
Read the post from the UWB Office of Connected Learning.
The European Space Agency has approved the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission to observe gravitational waves from space in partnership with NASA and the international LISA Consortium.
Read the ESA announcement and the LISA Study Definition Report.
Congratulations to Dr. Ansel Neunzert for winning the 2023 LIGO Laboratory Award for Excellence in Detector Characterization and Calibration! The award recognizes Neunzert’s work on speeding up and automating finding and tracking “line” and “comb” noise features in LIGO detector data.
Read the announcement from LIGO Lab.
The Cosmic Explorer project has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) totaling approximately $9M USD over the coming three years. The UWB GWA research group will contribute to Launching the Cosmic Explorer Conceptual Design (NSF Award 2309064).
Read more on the Cosmic Explorer website.
The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational waves (NANOGrav) announced the publication of papers analyzing 15 years of pulsar timing data and providing evidence for a gravitational wave background. UW Bothell faculty and students contributed to this work and former UWB NANOGrav postdoc Jeff Hazboun was interviewed for GeekWire and NPR articles.
Read more and watch the announcement event on the NANOGrav 15-year Data Set webpage.
Science for kids, edited by kids.
The Frontiers for Young Minds (FYM) journal asks kids to review articles by researchers to create accessible content for kids, schools, and the public. The FYM Nobel Collection features articles from Nobel Prize-winning researchers, including Gravitational Waves—A New Window on the Universe. Check out the recent article in the Washington Post, Kid-edited journal pushes scientists for clear writing on complex topics.