Center for Particle Cosmology Spotlight

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Congratulations to Professor Mark Devlin

Great news!

Professor Mark Devlin has been elected 2025 Member of the National Academy of Sciences! Election to the NAS recognizes Professor Devlin's stellar contributions to Cosmology and Astrophysics.

Please join us in congratulating him for this truly well-deserved honor!

For a listing of this year’s winners see: https://www.nasonline.org/news/2025-nas-election/

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Appointment of Professor Justin Khoury as co-Director of the Center for Particle Cosmology

The Center for Particle Cosmology would like to announce an important leadership change. Professor Mark Trodden, who has co-directed the center since its founding in 2009, was recently announced as the new Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and has decided to step down as co-Director, effective May 1, 2025. Professor Trodden will, however, continue as a key member and contributor to the Center.

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Congratulations - Dr. Monica Jinwoo Kang!

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 AKPA Outstanding Young Researcher Award (OYRA) will be awarded to

Dr. Monica Jinwoo Kang (Center of Particle Cosmology Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania) for her prolific and creative research contributions to string theory, quantum field theory, and mathematical physics as well as for providing excellent mentorship to younger generations of physicists.

Read more about the AKPA Award here.

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Recent Scientific Developments on Cosmology and Particle Physics

A collaborative workshop bringing together participants from nearby universities to advance research in cosmology and particle physics.

Robyn Sanderson and Adrien Thob of the School of Arts & Sciences are part of a team of astronomers using NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to uncover the “fossil record” of the universe as they look to clues to unearth key insights into its formation. (Image: Courtesy of NASA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will investigate the history of galaxies

Robyn Sanderson and collaborators are unearthing the history of the universe’s formation by looking for clues that reveal its ‘galactic fossil record.’

Yhe universe is a dynamic, ever-changing place where galaxies are dancing, merging, and changing appearance. Looking ever deeper into the universe, astronomers see galaxies at earlier stages in their lives. Unfortunately, because these changes take millions or billions of years, telescopes only provide snapshots, squeezed into a human lifetime.

Four academic journeys explored

PennToday explores Vijay Balasubramanian's academic career.

As seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, the galaxy cluster Abell 370 reveals telltale streaks of light from more distant galaxies that have had their light bent and distorted by an effect called gravitational lensing.  NASA, ESA, AND J. LOTZ AND THE HFF TEAM/STSCI

Strange observations of galaxies challenge ideas about dark matter

ScienceNews quotes Bhuvnesh Jain in their recent article about dark matter.

“I think it’s a real stretch to say that one can do away with dark matter, because the lines of evidence [for it] are so numerous,” says Bhuvnesh Jain, a cosmologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more here

desi collaboration/noirlab/nsf/aura/r. proctor

The dominant model of the universe is creaking: Dark energy could break it apart

The Economist quotes Bhuvnesh Jain in their recent science and technology article.

Devlin Lab researchers publish study detailing their work on Large Aperture Telescope Receiver

Ningfeng Zhu, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and member of the lab of Mark Devlin, Reese W.

Prof. Vijay Balasubramanian discusses time on Netflix series Explained

Vijay Balasubramanian, Cathy and Marc Lasry Professor and Center for Particle Cosmology faculty, was featured on the episode "Time" of the Netflix series Explained. The episode delved into the individual experience of time, the evolutionary pressures of time, and how we understand time as it relates to space and the universe. Prof. Balasubramanian explains that "matter and energy can bend space.