Hello! I am a gravitational-wave astronomer and data scientist at Syracuse University, where I am a Research Associate Professor and the Director of the Open Source Program Office. I am a member of the Syracuse University Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics and a Core Member of the LISA Consortium. I also hold an adjunct appointment at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. I received my B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Syracuse University.
My research uses gravitational waves from merging black holes and neutron stars to answer fundamental questions about the universe: What happens near a black hole? Does general relativity hold in the strongest gravitational fields? How does matter behave at the extreme densities inside a neutron star? How fast is the universe expanding? I also build open-source software for gravitational-wave data analysis, and am a lead developer of PyCBC Inference.
Outside of work, I enjoy running, hiking, and playing the piano (badly). I have a love of the outdoors that comes from growing up in the Adirondack Mountains. I am also a history buff, a bit of a news junkie, and a fan of anything aerospace (I even named my cat Apollo).
Research Interests
Black holes and tests of gravity
Using the gravitational waves from merging black holes to test general relativity and the nature of black holes.
Neutron stars and dense matter
Combining gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of neutron stars to learn how matter behaves at extreme densities.
Searches and multimessenger astronomy
Finding gravitational-wave signals in noisy detector data, measuring their significance, and searching for joint signals with telescopes.
Bayesian inference and open-source software
Developing the statistical methods and open-source tools used to infer the properties of gravitational-wave sources.
Next-generation detectors and cosmology
Preparing for the science and data-analysis challenges of future observatories such as Cosmic Explorer, the Einstein Telescope, and LISA.
Grants
Syracuse University Open Source Program Office (OSPO) Renewal
2025–2027PI · Alfred P. Sloan Foundation · G-2025-79206 · $719,330
A Bayesian Framework for Neutron Star Merger Observations using Fermi-GBM data
2026–2027Co-PI · NASA · Fermi Guest Investigator Program Cycle 18 · $79,978
Collaborative Research: CDS&E: Data-Driven Discovery of Neural ODE Dynamics, Astrophysical Models, and Orbits (Neural ODE DynAMO)
2024–2027Co-PI · National Science Foundation · AST-2407454 · $189,022
Development of Efficient Black Hole Spectroscopy and a Desktop Cluster for Detecting Compact Binary Mergers
2023–2027PI · National Science Foundation · PHY-2412341 · $156,570
Development and Implementation of Robust and Scalable Numerical Algorithms
2022Co-PI · Defense University Instrumentation Initiative Program · $600,000
Significant short-author works
My short-author papers (≤ 10 authors) with > 100 citations.*
- 4-OGC: Catalog of Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Mergers
- Multimode Quasinormal Spectrum from a Perturbed Black Hole
- 3-OGC: Catalog of Gravitational Waves from Compact-binary Mergers
- GW190521 may be an intermediate mass ratio inspiral
- 2-OGC: Open Gravitational-wave Catalog of binary mergers from analysis of public Advanced LIGO and Virgo data
- Stringent constraints on neutron-star radii from multimessenger observations and nuclear theory
- 1-OGC: The first open gravitational-wave catalog of binary mergers from analysis of public Advanced LIGO data
- PyCBC Inference: A Python-based parameter estimation toolkit for compact binary coalescence signals
- Low significance of evidence for black hole echoes in gravitational wave data
- Comments on: "Echoes from the abyss: Evidence for Planck-scale structure at black hole horizons"
- Impact of higher harmonics in searching for gravitational waves from nonspinning binary black holes
* Source: INSPIRE, last accessed October 23, 2026.