Enectalí "Tali" Figueroa-Feliciano (born 1971) is a Puerto Rican

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and professor at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

who pioneers the development and application of transition edge sensor (TES) detectors to experiments for detecting

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not a ...

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass ...

interactions, and for X-ray astronomy.

Early years

Figueroa-Feliciano was born in 1971 in the city of

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Mayagüez (, ) is a city and the eighth-largest municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, and is also known as ''La Sultana del Oeste'' (The Sultaness of the West), ''Ciudad de las Aguas Pura ...

, which is located on the western coast of the island. After he graduated in 1989 from high school C.R.O.E.M. (Centro Residencial de Opportunidades Educativas en Mayaguez), he attended the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus and, in 1995, earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

NASA

Figueroa-Feliciano continued his academic studies at Stanford University, earning a master's degree (1997) and doctorate (2001) in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. While studying at Stanford, Figueroa-Feliciano did his dissertation research at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Goddard Space Flight Center in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, as part of the Science Cooperative Education program. Upon his graduation from Stanford, Figueroa-Feliciano became an astrophysicist for the Goddard Space Flight Center, where he served as the microcalorimeter leader for the Generation-X Vision Mission; and as a member of the following teams: Constellation-X facility science team, Suzaku Observatory science working group, and the

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

Quantum

Calorimeter A calorimeter is an object used for calorimetry, or the process of measuring the heat of chemical reactions or physical changes as well as heat capacity. Differential scanning calorimeters, isothermal micro calorimeters, titration calorimete ...

(XQC) sounding rocket team. Figueroa-Feliciano pioneered the development of position-sensitive detectors that will provide an order of magnitude more

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the ...

s (and thus larger field of view) than traditional single-pixel X-ray microcalorimeters.MIT Faculty
/ref> He has received several NASA awards for the development and demonstration of position-sensitive x-ray microcalorimeters. He served as President of the Sixth Executive Council of the NASA Academy Alumni Association from August 1, 2003, to December 31, 2004. In September 2003, Figueroa-Feliciano was interviewed for the position of Astronaut candidate.

Awards and distinctions

Figueroa-Feliciano was awarded a NSF Early Career Development Grant while at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. He is a Kavli Frontiers of ScienceKavli Frontiers of Science
/ref> Fellow.

Career and Research

Figueroa-Feliciano is an associate professor of physics at

. His current research goalsFigueroa Research Group
/ref> include the search for dark matter (both directly and indirectly), the study of neutrino-nucleon scattering, and X-ray astronomy. His work on dark matter was featured in the 2008 '' NOVA scienceNOW'' program "Dark Matter" on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. In 2010, he received the

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...

Selected publications by Figueroa-Feliciano

Figueroa-Feliciano has contributed to the following publications as author or co-author: *''Position-sensitive low-temperature detectors;'' E. Figueroa-Feliciano. Invited review in ''Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research'' pp. 496–501, 2004. *''Cryogenic Microcalorimeters,'' M. Galeazzi and E. Figueroa-Feliciano. Contributed chapter in .''X-ray Spectrometry: Recent Technological Advances;'' John Wiley & Sons, 2004. *''Position-sensitive transition edge sensor modeling and results;'' C. Hammock, E. Figueroa-Feliciano, E. Apodaca, S. Bandler, K. Boyce, J. Chervenak, F. Finkbeiner, R. Kelley, M. Lindeman, S. Porter, T. Saab, and C. Stahle. ''Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research;'' pp. 505–507, 2004.

Note

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Figueroa-Feliciano, Enectali 1971 births People from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Living people Puerto Rican scientists NASA people NASA astrophysicists Stanford University alumni Northwestern University faculty