Vicky Kalogera

  • Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences
  • Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)

Vicky Kalogera’s research interests lie broadly in the astrophysics of compact objects across the electromagnetic spectrum and in gravitational waves. In binary systems, where two stars orbit each other, the interactions of compact objects are especially interesting. They can include a wide variety of violent phenomena such as powerful X-ray emissions, supernova explosions, black hole formation, and mergers. Kalogera’s research is focused mainly on how such systems are born, how they evolve, and how they end their lives. She is also interested in how the properties of such systems are affected by their galactic environments.

Kalogera is a leading astrophysicist in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and a member of this collaboration for more than 15 years. LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) is the special kind of ‘telescope’ that first detected gravitational waves in 2015, 100 years after Einstein predicted them to exist. As a member of the discovery team of the first LIGO source (GW150914), she was awarded the 2016 Gruber Prize in Cosmology and the 2015 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Kalogera is at the forefront of the emergent field of gravitational-wave astronomy, using data analysis and astrophysical modeling to understand the universe’s population of black holes and neutron stars. Her research is cross-disciplinary coupling gravitational-wave and stellar astrophysics to data science, machine learning and high-performance computing. In parallel to her gravitational-wave source studies, Kalogera also studies the formation and evolution of stars and their remnants detectable as gamma-ray, X-ray, and radio pulsar sources in the electromagnetic spectrum, in a wide range of stellar environments.

Honors and Awards

  • Guggenheim Fellow
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Elected Member
  • Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society
  • National Academy of Sciences, Elected Member
  • Dannie Heineman Prize
  • Hans Bethe Prize
  • Simons Foundation Fellow
  • Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award
  • Cottrell Scholar Award
  • David and Lucille Packard Fellow
  • Annie Cannon Award in Astronomy
  • NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award