Eve M. Vavagiakis — CV

Hello! I’m an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow in the Physics Department at Cornell University. In 2024, I will join the faculty at Duke University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics. I will be building a lab and seeking to work with students and postdocs excited about experimental cosmology instrumentation and data analysis, so please get in touch if you’re interested. I work as a part of four collaborations: ACT, CCAT-prime, CMB-S4, and SO. You can learn about each of these efforts by clicking on their name, and you can visit our group webpage here.

I completed my PhD at Cornell University in 2021, where I worked as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and Provost Diversity Fellow on instrumentation and analysis for cosmology and astrophysics.

During my PhD, I designed Mod-Cam, a first light instrument for the CCAT Observatory‘s Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST). I am currently leading the development of Mod-Cam for first light on the FYST, located at an exceptional 5600 m elevation in the Atacama Desert, Chile. I am also analyzing maps of the cosmic microwave background to measure thermal and kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich signals. These measurements probe the contents and evolution of galaxy groups and clusters and will constrain the fundamental physics of our universe.

I also work on communicating science to a diverse public audience, and am excited about my series of children’s books highlighting modern physics and astronomy experiments with MIT Kids Press. The first book, “I’m a Neutrino”, is available now wherever books are sold, and has been featured in Symmetry Magazine’s “Physics books of 2022.”

When I’m not in the lab or at my desk, you can find me galavanting around the Finger Lakes on foot or on two wheels, ticking off miles on the Finger Lakes Trail (~323/580 miles so far!), or eating large quantities of local vegetables.