Physics and Astronomy Professors to Use New Telescope in Hunt for Dark Energy

After more than a decade of development and planning, the National Science Foundation has approved federal construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, of which the University of Pennsylvania is a member, will manage the $473 million construction project. 

Bhuvnesh Jain, Mike Jarvis, Larry Gladney, Gary Bernstein and Masao Sako of the Department of Physics & Astronomy in the School of Arts & Sciences are involved in LSST. Jain leads LSST’s cosmology effort as spokesperson for its Dark Energy Science Collaboration, while Jarvis is co-coordinator of its weak gravitational lensing working group. 

Gravitational lensing involves measuring minute distortions in the light of distant galaxies as a way of inferring the properties of objects that light passes by on its way to Earth. These objects include galaxies and cosmic superclusters, which are dominated by dark matter, a form of matter that is not directly visible. Lensing is also one of the main methods Bernstein, Jain and Jarvis are applying with the ongoing Dark Energy Survey. 

Read the full story here.

Arts & Sciences News

University of Pennsylvania, Neubauer Family Foundation, and Philadelphia Police Department Partner to Support Police Leadership Education

The first-of-its-kind graduate degree in the U.S. for police leaders launches this fall at the School of Arts & Sciences.

View Article >
Marisa C. Kozlowski Named Next Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences

Kozlowski, who joined the Penn faculty in 1997, succeeds Mark Trodden, who transitions to the Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences on June 1.

View Article >
One Fourth Year, One Alum Receive 2025 Hertz Fellowship

Eric Tao, C’25, Gr’25 (left), and Suraj Chandran, C’23, were awarded the honor, part of a group of 19 fellows selected this year. Each one receives five years of funding toward a doctoral program.

View Article >
Benjamin Nathans Wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction

Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History, won for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”

View Article >
Mark Devlin Elected to National Academy of Sciences

He joins three others from Penn to receive the honor this year, all recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

View Article >
Michael Jones-Correa and Sophia Rosenfeld Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They join three others from the University of Pennsylvania, selected as part of the Academy’s mission to convene leaders from “every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together.”

View Article >