University of Southern California
USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Elena PierpaoliProfessor of Physics and AstronomyContact Information E-mail: pierpaol@usc.edu Phone: (213) 740-1117 Office: SHS 371 LINKS Personal Website |
Education |
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 Ph.D. Aastrophysics, SISSA-ISAS, 10/1998
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M.S. Physics, University of Milano, 3/1994
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Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History |
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Professor, University of Southern California, 01/2011-
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Associate Professor, University of Southern California, 04/2007-12/2010
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Assistant Professor, University of Southern California, 06/2006-03/2007
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Research faculty, Caltech, 09/01/2004-05/31/2006
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Research Staff, Princeton University, 01/01/2002-09/01/2004
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CITA National Fellow, University of British Columbia, 11/15/1998-11/14/2001
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Description of Research |
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Summary Statement of Research Interests |
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| I am a theoretical cosmologist, specialized in model comparison with data. I mainly work on the cosmic microwave background and the large scale structure of the Universe. | |
Research Keywords |
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| Cosmology, large scale strucutre, cosmic microwave background, early Universe, dark matter, data analysis | |
Research Specialties |
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| As a theoretical cosmologist, my main aim is to determine the content of the Universe, its evolution and characteristics now and at very early times. While these questions have been outstanding issues for Humankind for centuries, we are now in the position to address them is a quantitative way through the study of astrophysical objects outside our own Galaxy. Two major astrophysical observables can be invoked for this purpose: the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, otherwise known as the radiation that comes to us almost from the times of the Big Bang, and the distribution of galaxies beyond our own. The study of such anisotropies has tremendously advanced the knowledge of the field. Indeed, they convey very straightforward information on the global geometry of the Universe, the kind of matter and energy it contains and also the kind of processes that very early on have seeded the inhomogeneities which have then evolved into the observed bound structures around us (e.g. galaxies and clusters of galaxies). The last generation CMB satellite (Planck) is now flying and collecting data. Part of my group has been involved in the preparation of this mission and is now analyzing the data. One of my research topics consists in testing possible theoretical scenarios of our Universe by comparing the predictions it would imply for these anisotropies with the actual observations. Apart from the CMB, I also extensively work on galaxy clusters. Clusters are the biggest gravitationally–bound objects in our Universe and are composed of dark matter, galaxies and free “gas” (free charged particles). Clusters are important for two reasons: first they are tracers of the underlying matter distribution, second they form for gravitational collapse (contrasting cosmic expansion) and merging events of smaller objects (like galaxies). Studying clusters we can therefore probe the nature of the dark energy (leading the current expansion), dark matter and the assembly of luminous matter. | |
Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions |
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Caltech, Visiting faculty
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Non-resident affiliate
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Guest Lectures in Courses |
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PHYS 190-Freshman Colloquium: "What's new in Cosmology today", 2010-2011
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TASI lectures: The Cosmic Microwave Background, 2009-2010
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Honors and Awards |
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NASA Group Achievement Award (2011),
Fall
2011
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NASA Group Achievement Award - Planck Data Analysis Team (2010), 2010-2011
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NSF ADVANCE Fellow, 7/2004-6/2010
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Service to the University |
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Committees |
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Chair, Physics Graduate Admission, 03/2010-10/2012
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Member, WiSE College committee and advisory Board, 2010-2011
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Member, Graduate Admissions, 09/2006-08/2010
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Member, Graduate and undergraduate curriculum, 2009-2010
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Member, Strategic University Planning,
Spring
2010
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Member, Cosmology program, 03/2007-12/2009
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Media, Alumni, and Community Relations |
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USC Vision and Voices event "Einstein Cosmic Messangers"- organizer, 2010-2011
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217th AAS Meeting: Press release on Planck early results,
Spring
2011
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Invited guest at the USC College Program: "Junior Faculty Showcase", 2007-2008
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Invited guest at the USC College Doctoral Fellowship Program:"Inside the Academics Studio", 2006-2007
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Invited guest at the WISE Undergraduate Students Residence at USC, 2006-2007
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Service to the Profession |
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Professional Memberships |
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American Astronomical Society, 12/2010-
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