News/Events

Maura McLaughlin, Eberly Distinguished Professor and Chair in the West Virginia University Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The grant, Collaborative Research: Building the Next-Generation NANOGrav Pulsar Timing Array with the DSA-2000 was awarded to McLaughlin and team as part of the Windows on the Universe program at NSF.  The dedicated $313,000 will support multi-faceted research and training programs across the country, involving a new radio telescope array called the Deep Synoptic Array, or DSA-2000.

Abyss Halley, a doctoral student in the West Virginia University Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, has been named a 2025 Ruby Fellowship Scholar by the West Virginia University Foundation. 

The synergistic power of physics and astronomy was on full display this summer break as six undergraduate students from across the country came together for a comprehensive introduction to research projects like magnetosonic waves on Venus, CHIME outrigger instrumentation, hands on plasma experimentation, and pulsar science research.

The Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology presents the May WVUniverse talk, "Cosmic Burps in the Milky Way" featuring Duncan Lorimer, FRS. 

The Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology presents the next WVUniverse talk for the month of April and will feature Catherine Regan, PhD.

Discovered in the late 1960s, the Crab Pulsar is a unique pulsar astronomers continue to study due to its curious behavior and significance.

WVU Department of Physics and Astronomy Professor and Center Member, Dr. Sarah Burke-Spolaor was named the Benedum Distinguished Scholar in Physical Sciences and Technologies, and will be honored at the upcoming Benedum Distinguished Scholar Showcase.

WVUniverse series presents "Salty Secrets about the Search for Life on Mars" featuring Kathleen Benison, PhD. Benison is a Professor of Geology at West Virginia University. 

The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC) has been awarded the prestigious Bruno Rossi Prize from the American Astronomical Society (AAS), as announced at 245th annual AAS conference last week in National Harbor, MD. The NANOGrav Collaboration shares the 2025 prize with their PFC co-directors, Drs. Maura McLaughlin (West Virginia University) and Xavier Siemens (Oregon State University).