PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

Vieregg Abigail G, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Through precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), astrophysicists tackle the most exciting questions about the nature of the Universe at the beginning of time, including probing the widely-held theory that the Universe underwent violent Inflation during the first moments of time. The applicant plans to work at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics on the SPUD Array, a new set of receivers that will observe from the South Pole aiming to discover the first direct signature of Inflation: the primordial B-mode polarization imprint left behind in the CMB. The intellectual merit of the proposed research is to directly probe the Universe through the data analysis effort drawn from the applicant's experience in particle physics while developing new analysis tools. For the broader impact, the applicant plans writing for the Exploratorium?s Web site "Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists", which shares stories about astrophysical research in Antarctica. She also plans to be a Worldwide Telescope Ambassador, giving public presentations and adding images from Antarctic-based telescopes to the Worldwide Telescope?s computer-based astronomy visualization tools for education.