Asantha Cooray

Theoretical Astrophysics
California Institute of Technology
MS 130-33, Caltech
Pasadena, CA 91125
asante@caltech.edu

Current Position

Sherman Fairchild Senior Research Fellow in Physics California Institute of Technology

From 2005: Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Irvine

Previous Positions

Research Fellow, University of Chicago

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BS in Physics, 1997
BS in Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, 1997
BS in Applied Mathematics, 1997
Minor: Anthropology
MS (A joint Astrophysics and Planetary Science concentration), 1997
MS Thesis Title:
Stellar Occultation Observations of Saturn's North-Polar Temperature Structure
Advisor:
Prof. James L. Elliot & Prof. Bernard Burke

University of Chicago

MS in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Dec 1998
PhD in Astrophysics, June 2001
PhD Thesis Title:
Applications of Halo Approach to Non-LInear Large Scale Structure Clustering
Advisor:
Professor Wayne Hu

Grants & Awards

2000 Sugarman Award For Excellence in Research, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago
McCormick Fellowship, U. of Chicago Physical Sciences Division (1997-2000)
Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research
Sigma Pi Sigma, Physics Honor Society
Sigma Xi, Science Honor Society

Fellowships

Sherman Fairchild Senior Research Fellow, Caltech (2001-2007) Accepted
Chandra Fellowship (declined)
Lyman Spiter, Jr. Fellowship, Princeton University (declined)
Keck Fellowship, Institute for Advanced Study (declined)
Leverhlume Fellowship, Oxford University (declined)
Miller Fellowship, Miller Foundation and University of California at Berkeley (declined)

Professional Activities

Referee for Physical Review Letters, Physical Reviews (D), Astrophysical Journal, Astrophysical Journal Letters, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, International Journal of Modern Physics, Physics Reports
Grant proposal referee for Israel Science Foundation, National Science Foundation, NASA (Member; Astrophysics Theory Program panel, Origins program panel)
Invited talks at various conferences and meetings, including 2003 International Astronomical Union General Meeting (Sydney, Australia)
Invited colloquia and seminars: Institute for Advanced Study, Caltech, Fermi Lab, Oxford, UC Davis, UT Austin, Cornell, Columbia, U Penn, U. Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, U Wisconsin, Purdue, Notre Dame
Invited Review article for Physics Reports (with Ravi Sheth) (200+ pages)
Visiting Astronomer: BIMA, OVRO, VLA, IRTF, CTIO, APO, MDM, KPNO
Full Member American Astronomical Society (General, Planetary Science division and the High Energy Astrophysics Division)
Fellow Royal Astronomical Society
Full member Sigma Xi
Collaborator, Dark Universe Explorer Telescope (DUET). A proposed MIDEX wide-field X-ray mission to NASA
Member, Working Group related to the Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC) Mission (CMBpol mission for the Inflationary Gravitational Wave B-modes)
Co-I, Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER) - A Rocket-borne experiment to measure fluctuations in the near-IR background
Associate, Herschel SPIRE Science Consortium
External Science Member, SIRTF IRAC Science Team

Publications & Presentations

Publications and Presentations available online.


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