Dr. Maura McLaughlin is an astrophysicist from West Virginia University (WVU) who is on the leading edge of internationally-renowned gravitational wave research. In this talk, titled Waves of the Future: How Gravitational Waves are Transforming Research and Education in West Virginia, McLaughlin will discuss WVU’s involvement in the recent discovery proving evidence of ripples in space-time one hundred years after Albert Einstein first predicted their existence.
McLaughlin’s ongoing research involves looking for distortions in radio waves emitted by large celestial objects known as pulsars. Her presentation at the STEM Speaker Series event will focus on how this research is not only putting West Virginia on the research map but also how it is positively affecting education in the Mountain State.