Top image caption: Winters in the Northeast have their special charm: Landing on the Alton Bay Ice Runway.
I am Professor of Physics at Syracuse University in the Gravitational Wave group.
My research focus is the direct observation of Gravitational Waves, and observing the relativistic universe with them. I am commissioning and characterizing the Advanced LIGO interferometers, and developing technology for the next generation of gravitational-wave detectors, in particular Cosmic Explorer. I received my Ph.D. in Physics from the MIT in 2006. My thesis was on commissioning the initial LIGO interferometer and setting an experimental limit on the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background. I was a Millikan postdoctoral fellow at the Caltech and a JSPS fellow at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
I am originally from Magden, Switzerland. I am married to Michiko Ueda. She spent her childhood in Tokyo, Japan. We both attended MIT, yet never met in Boston. We exchanged our vows in Girdwood, AK on the day of the summer solstice 2008. Our son Kenai was born in 2011. Next to Michiko and Kenai, my big love is flying. I am a instrument flight instructor (CFII). I hold a commercial pilot license and a seaplane rating. I am a member of the Syracuse Flying Club and the Caltech/JPL flying club.
“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Leonardo da Vinci