My research, beginning as an undergraduate working on the CLASS project and continuing to now as a graduate student working on the Simons Array experiment, has focused on building telescopes that we can use to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).  The CMB consists of light from the early universe.  By measuring the intensity and polarization of this light across broad regions of the sky we can learn about the universe’s origins, composition, and evolution.

The Simons Array is a ground-based array of 3 telescopes located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.  My work as a graduate student focuses on the development and validation of the cryogenic receivers that sit at the focus of each of these telescopes, and in particular characterizing pieces of the receivers’ readout system.  I also work on designing accessory pieces and enclosures for the telescopes and am involved in the integration of all these components at the observatory site.

More information about UCSD’s experimental cosmology group, led by professors Brian Keating and Kam Arnold, can be found here: https://cosmology.ucsd.edu/index.php