GWIC awards a yearly prize recognizing an outstanding Ph.D. thesis in the field of gravitational waves, the GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prize.
The Gravitational Wave International Committee and the Friends of Stefano Braccini are pleased to announce the yearly prize recognizing an outstanding Ph.D. thesis in the field of gravitational waves, the GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prize. Nominations for the 2024 GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prize are now open.
Members of the gravitational-wave community are invited to
nominate students who have performed notable research on any
aspect of gravitational-wave science. Theses will be judged on (i)
originality and creativity of the research, (ii) importance to the
field of gravitational waves and gravitational wave detection,
broadly interpreted, and (iii) clarity of presentation. The winner
will receive a certificate of recognition and a prize of US
$1,000. The 2024 prize will be awarded at an international meeting
in summer 2025. Limited travel funds (up to €1,000) will be
available for the winner to attend the prize award event.
(Please note that the jury decision on the 2023 prize was
unfortunately delayed; the 2023 prize will be announced in
February 2025.)
Eligibility: In this cycle, the prize will be awarded on a calendar year basis for 2024. Theses should have been accepted by the relevant institution between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. A committee selected from the gravitational-wave community will evaluate the nominations and select the winner. The selection committee will make all determinations about eligibility.
Nominations: Nominations should be submitted by February 28, 2025. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination from the thesis advisor, (iii) a supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work, and (iv) a single-page abstract of the thesis written by the nominee. The nomination and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and the student's particular contribution. Because the large number of submissions imposes a significant burden on the jury, we request that each advisor submit a single nomination, and that they consider whether the thesis is indeed internationally competitive.
Electronic submissions are strongly preferred, with the thesis, abstract and the letters in separate pdf files (four files in total). Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to gwic-braccini-prize@phys.ethz.ch. Please provide also a contact email address and the current institution of the nominee in the nomination letter. All submissions will be acknowledged. If an acknowledgement is not received shortly after the deadline, or for any other matter, please email gwic-braccini-prize@phys.ethz.ch.
Sylvia Biscoveanu (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology)
"From Black Holes to the Big Bang: Astrophysics and
Cosmology with Gravitational Waves and their
Electromagnetic Counterparts"
For her innovative contributions to the emerging field of
gravitational wave astrophysics, including pioneering
techniques for measuring binary black hole spins,
characterizing neutron star properties from joint
gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations, and
for disentangling cosmological from astrophysical
backgrounds, all of which have led to an improved
understanding of the nature, origin, and evolution of
compact object binaries.
Eleonora Polini (Universite Savoie Mont Blanc)
"Broadband Quantum Noise Reduction in AdV+: From
Frequency-Dependent Squeezing Implementation to
Detection Losses and Scattered Light Mitigation"
Kaze W.K. Wong (JHU)
"Building New Tools for Gravitational Wave
Astronomy"
Marina Trad Nery (Max-Planck Institut für
Gravitationsphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover)
"Laser Power Stabilization via
Radiation Pressure"
Nancy Aggarwal (MIT)
"A Room Temperature Optomechanical Squeezer"
Jonathan D. Cripe (Louisiana State University)
"Broadband Measurement and Reduction of Quantum
Radiation Pressure Noise in the Audio Band"
Hector Okada da Silva (University of Mississippi)
"Compact Objects in Relativistic Theories of
Gravity"
Eric Oelker (MIT), winner of the 2016 GWIC Thesis Prize
"Squeezed States for Advanced Gravitational Wave
Detectors"
Davide Gerosa (University of Cambridge), winner of the
2016 Braccini Thesis Prize
"Source modelling at the dawn of gravitational-wave
astronomy"
Denis Martynov (Caltech), winner of the 2015 GWIC Thesis
Prize
"Lock Acquisition and Sensitivity Analysis of Advanced
LIGO Interferometers"
Vikram Ravi (University of Melbourne), winner of the 2015
Braccini Thesis Prize
"Evincing the histories of the cosmic supermassive
black hole and galaxy populations with gravitational
waves"
Leo Singer (Caltech), winner of the 2014 GWIC Thesis
Prize
"The needle in the 100 deg2 haystack: The
hunt for binary neutron star mergers with LIGO and
Palomar Transient Factory"
Yan Wang (Leibniz University of Hannover), winner of the
2014 Braccini Thesis Prize
"On inter-satellite laser ranging, clock
synchronization and gravitational wave data analysis"
Sheon Chua (ANU), winner of the 2013 GWIC Thesis Prize
"Quantum Enhancement of a 4km Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Detector"
Tjonnie Li (Vrije University Amsterdam), winner of the
2013 Braccini Thesis Prize
"Extracting Physics from Gravitational Waves: Testing
the Strong-field Dynamics of General Relativity and
Inferring the Large-scale Structure of the Universe"
Paul Fulda (University of Birmingham), winner of the 2012
GWIC Thesis Prize
Precision Interferometry in a New Shape: Higher-order
Laguerre-Gauss Modes for Gravitational Wave Detection
Kiwamu Izumi (University of Tokyo), co-winner of the 2012
Braccini Thesis Prize
Multi-Color Interferometry for Lock Acquisition of
Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Detectors
Vivien Raymond (Northwestern University), co-winner of the
2012 Braccini Thesis Prize
Parameter Estimation Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo
Methods for Gravitational Waves from Spinning Inspirals
of Compact Objects
Rutger van Haasteren (University of Leiden), winner of the
2011 GWIC Thesis Prize
Gravitational Wave detection and data analysis for
Pulsar Timing Arrays
Aleksandr Khalaidovski (Albert Einstein Institute and
Leibniz University of Hannover), winner of the 2011
Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize
Beyond the Quantum Limit--A Squeezed-Light Laser in
GEO600
Haixing Miao (University of Western Australia), winner of
the 2010 GWIC Thesis Prize
Exploring Macroscopic Quantum Mechanics in
Optomechanical Devices
Holger Pletsch (Albert Einstein Institute and Leibniz
University of Hannover), winner of the 2009 GWIC Thesis
Prize
Data Analysis for Continuous Gravitational Waves:
Deepest All-Sky Surveys
Henning Vahlbruch (Albert Einstein Institute and Leibniz
University of Hannover), winner of the 2008 GWIC Thesis
Prize
Squeezed Light for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
Keisuke Goda (MIT), winner of the 2007 GWIC Thesis
Prize
Development of Techniques for Quantum-Enhanced
Laser-Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Detectors
Yoichi Aso (University of Tokyo)
Active Vibration Isolation for a Laser Interferometric
Gravitational Wave Detector using a Suspension Point
Interferometer
Note, the gravitational wave thesis prize was started initially by LIGO as a biannual prize, limited to students of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. In 2006, the thesis prize was adopted by GWIC, renamed, converted to an annual prize, and opened to the broader community. In this transition year, theses completed between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2006 were eligible for the 2006 Prize.
Rana Adhikari (MIT)
Sensitivity and Noise Analysis of 4 km Laser
Interferometric Gravitational Wave Antennae
Note, the gravitational wave thesis prize was started initially by LIGO as a biannual prize, limited to students of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. The first award covered the period from 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2005. In 2006, the thesis prize was adopted by GWIC, renamed, converted to an annual prize, and opened to the broader community.