Co-chair of the Stochastic Working Group of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) (2006-present); Member of the LSC-VIRGO Data Analysis Council (2007-present); member of the LSC Data Analysis Committee (2006-2007); co-chair of the Hardware Injections Subgroup of the LIGO Detector Characterization Group (2006-present); member of the LIGO Detector Characterization Committee (2006-present); member of the LIGO Calibration Review Committee (2006-present).

My research focusses on the physics of the earliest stages of the Universe and of the highest energies. In particular, I am interested in experiments that probe content and properties of the Universe today, and that can shed light on the evolution of the Universe and on the physics at high energy scales. I work on two such experiments.

Gravitational Wave Search: LIGO

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has built three multi-kilometer interferometers at two sites: Hanford, WA and Livingston Parish, LA. These interferometers are designed to search for gravitational waves that could be produced in some of the most violent events in the Universe: mergers of two neutron stars or black holes, supernova explosions, or the Big Bang. Detection of gravitational waves would therefore open a new window into astronomy and could potentially give us a view of the early Universe, when the Universe was only a fraction-of-a-second old.

The LIGO interferometers are sensitive to mirror motions at the level of one ten-thousandth of the proton size. Much of my work is geared toward understanding the contributions from various noise sources that are important at such sensitivities. I am also involved in other instrumental aspects of LIGO such as developing diagnostic tools, performing signal simulations to test various search algorithms etc.

I also co-chair one the of LIGO Data Analysis Groups, searching for the stochastic background of gravitational waves. The nature of such a background could be cosmological (early Universe models, cosmic strings models) or astrophysical (integrating supernovae or pulsar signals across the Universe). We have placed the most stringent bound on the energy density in gravitational waves, thereby rulling out some of the models of stochastic gravitational-wave background due to cosmic strings and superstrings.

Dark Matter Search: CDMS

Together with Prof. P. Cushman, I am involved in the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment, which is designed to search for dark matter in the form of new particles, generically called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). There is an overwhelming evidence today that most of the matter in the Universe is invisible (i.e. dark), and most likely non-baryonics. However, the nature of dark matter is presently unknown, turning it into one of the most pressing problems in cosmology today. WIMPs are one possible solution to the dark matter problem. They are particularly interesting because they naturally appear in supersymmetry - hence, discovery of WIMPs could have very far-reaching implications for particle physics, in addition to solving the dark matter problem.

CDMS has designed detectors based on crystals of germanium or silicon, operated at very low temperatures (about 50 mK), and in very low background conditions (deep underground in Soudan mine, MN, with significant shielding). These detectors are capable of identifying and rejecting the known particle backgrounds very efficiently, hence allowing measurement of a background due to a new particle (WIMP). CDMS has been at the forefront of the WIMP searches over the past decade, and will remain to do so in the future, after the planned upgrade to the experiment. My research focus within CDMS is development and characterisation of detectors, mostly geared toward increasing the detector size which would simplify scaling the experiment up in mass. I am also interested in some data analysis aspects.