Rachel Mandelbaum is a professor of

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, studying cosmology and galactic evolution with a focus on dark matter and dark energy. Much of her work has used the phenomenon of gravitational lensing of galaxies and she has made significant improvements in the calibration of lensing parameters.

Education

Mandelbaum received her A.B. in physics with highest honors from Princeton University in 2000. She received her Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 2006 and is a tenured associate professor of physics at the

Research

Mandelbaum studies cosmology using the technique of weak gravitational lensing. She has contributed to more than 100 published papers since 2011. She served as the spokesperson for the

LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration LSST may refer to: * Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, former name of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory astronomical observatory in Chile ** Legacy Survey of Space and Time, an astronomical survey performed at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory * Lowstand s ...

, elected in 2019 and serving until July 1, 2021.

Personal life

Mandelbaum is an Orthodox Jew. She is open about her faith.

Awards

Mandelbaum has received numerous awards including the

Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

in 2013, the Department of Energy Early Career Award in 2012 and the Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy from the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

in 2011. In 2019, she was named a Simons Investigator by the Simons Foundation.

References

External links

Curriculum vitae
an
publications
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American astrophysicists American women physicists Princeton University alumni Carnegie Mellon University faculty 21st-century American physicists 21st-century American women scientists Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy {{US-physicist-stub