Who we are: Current group Members
Prof. Katelin Schutz
Until 2021, I was a Pappalardo Fellow and NASA Einstein Fellow in the MIT Department of Physics. I received my PhD in physics from UC Berkeley in 2019 with the support of fellowships from the Hertz Foundation and the National Science Foundation. My dissertation, "Searching for the invisible: how dark forces shape our Universe" was supervised by Hitoshi Murayama and won the American Physical Society Sakurai Dissertation Award. I received my Bachelors from MIT in 2014 with a thesis jointly supervised by David Kaiser and Tracy Slatyer. In my spare time, I love making and eating all kinds of food, savoury and sweet, from a range of cuisines.
Dr. Saniya Heeba
Before becoming a McGill Space Insitute Fellow, I was a PhD student working with Felix Kahlhoefer at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany. I defended my dissertation with the titled “Doors to Darkness” on the phenomenology of dark matter portal interactions in September of 2021. I am interested in the intersection between particle physics and cosmology in the context of modelling and probing dark matter. I want to understand how theory and experiment can be used in tandem to navigate and transform the expansive terrain of dark matter physics. When I’m not pondering the mysteries of the universe (and sometimes even when I am), I like to tell stories, fictional and otherwise, and create art of dubious quality. All of this can be found on my twitter (@saniaheba).
Nirmalya Brahma
Before starting my PhD studies at McGill in 2021, I did my Bachelors and Masters from the Indian Institute of Science. Broadly, my research interests lie at the interface of cosmology and high energy physics. I am particularly interested in using theories from high energy physics in conjunction with observational data from cosmology to study mysterious things of the universe like dark matter.
Rohan Kulkarni
Originally from outskirts of Mumbai, I did my B.Sc. Physics at Leipzig University and am currently in the second year of my M.Sc. Physics at the Heidelberg University. I joined the group as a graduate research trainee in 2021 working towards parts of my Masters thesis. My interest in dark matter arises from my interest in Early Universe Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. I love teaching, both physics and math, and coming up with different visual/intuitive techniques for challenging concepts. Apart from that, I enjoy playing/watching Football, cooking/eating good food and occasional gaming!
Harper Sewalls
I am a McGill physics undergrad from Kentucky, USA. I am interested in
theoretical/computational astrophysics. Outside of school I like board games, yoga, and mountain biking.
Junior collaborators and friends of the group
Wenzer Qin
I am a graduate student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the MIT Department of Physics. I study cosmology and particle astrophysics with Tracy Slatyer’s group at the Center for Theoretical Physics, with a special interest in the nature of dark matter and its effects on the early universe. When I’m not thinking about physics, I dabble in classical music and digital painting.
Yitian Sun
Before starting my PhD at MIT, I obtained my Bachelors degree at the University of Chicago, where I explored a range of projects from collider experiment to particle phenomenology and theory. Now I am most interested in hunting the dark matter through novel astrophysical signatures and its imprints on the cosmological evolution history of the universe. I’m also interested in using Machine Learning to accelerate data analysis and simulation in my research. When I’m not doing physics, I enjoy putting on music and catching up with the local hip-hop dance scene.
Anjali Nambrath
I’m a graduate student at UC Berkeley working on heavy-ion physics in Barbara Jacak’s group. Currently, I’m working on jet substructure studies with the ALICE experiment. I completed my undergrad at MIT in 2021, and was involved in a variety of projects there studying neutrino-nucleus interactions, axion dark matter, and nuclear structure. I’m a fan of particle physics, good food, and literature in translation.