Professor Asantha Cooray
Professor of Physics & Astronomy
(949) 701-6393
2162 Frederick Reines Hall
Research Interests:
Cosmology, Early Universe, Cosmic Microwave Background, Cosmic Infrared Background, Large Scale Structure
Asantha Cooray is a Professor and a Chancellor’s Fellow at UCI and a member of the research faculty at the California Institute of Technology. His research expertise is in the field of space science, cosmology, astrophysics and is a member of several space-based and NASA sounding rocket experiments and instrumentation aimed at understanding the early universe, first stars, and galaxies. He is a member of the ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory-SPIRE Instrument Team and several NASA astrophysics missions planned for this decade, including the Inflation Probe. He has contributed to topics in field such as halo model of the galaxy distribution in the large-scale structure, and has developed ways to measure and quantify physical properties of dark energy and dark matter in the universe. Cooray is also a Science Editor of Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP).
Curriculum Vitae
Education:
Ph.D., Astrophysics, University of Chicago, June 2001
Thesis Topic: Applications of Halo Approach to Non-Linear Large Scale Structure Clustering
Advisor: Professor Wayne Hu
M.S., Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago, December 1998
M.S., Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997
Thesis Topic: Stellar Occultation Observations of Saturn’s North-Polar Temperature Structure
Advisors: Prof. James L. Elliot & Prof. Bernard Burke
B.S., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997
B.S., Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997
B.S., Applied Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997
Minor: Anthropology
Academic Distinctions:
NASA Group Achievement Award for CIBER, 2014
NASA Group Achievement Award for Herschel-SPIRE, 2012
Chancellor’s Fellow, UC Irvine, 2007-2010
NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, 2007
UCI Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and Distinguished Fostering of Undergraduate Research, 2007
Sherman Fairchild Senior Research Fellow, Caltech, 2001
Appointments
Sherman Fairchild Senior Research Fellow, Caltech, 2001-2005
Research Fellow, University of Chicago, 2001
Grants & Awards
2000 Sugarman Award for Excellence in Research, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago
McCormick Fellowship, University of Chicago Physical Sciences Division, 1997-2000
Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research
Member of Sigma Xi, Science Honor Society
Member of Sigma Pi Sigma, Physics Honor Society
Fellowships
Sherman Fairchild Senior Research Fellow, Caltech, 2001-2007 (Accepted)
Miller Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley (declined)
Leverhulme Fellowship, Oxford University (declined)
Keck Fellowship, Institute for Advanced Study (declined)
Lyman Spitzer, Jr. Fellowship, Princeton University (declined)
Chandra Fellowship (declined)
Professional Activities
Collaborations and Memberships:
Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER): Co-Investigator for a rocket-borne experiment to measure fluctuations in the near-IR background.
Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC): Member of the Working Group related to the CMBpol mission for Inflationary Gravitational Wave B-modes.
Dark Universe Explorer Telescope (DUET): Collaborator on a proposed MIDEX wide-field X-ray mission to NASA.
Herschel SPIRE Science Consortium: Associate.
SIRTF IRAC Science Team: External Science Member.
Astronomical Observation:
Visiting Astronomer at: BIMA, OVRO, VLA, IRTF, CTIO, APO, MDM, KPNO
Published Contributions:
Invited review article for Physics Reports (with Ravi Sheth) – Over 200 pages.
Invited Talks and Presentations:
Speaker at the 2003 International Astronomical Union General Meeting (Sydney, Australia)
Colloquia and seminars at institutions including:
Institute for Advanced Study, Caltech, Fermilab, Oxford, UC Davis, UT Austin, Cornell, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, University of Wisconsin, Purdue, Notre Dame
Reviewer:
Referee for journals: Physical Review Letters, Physical Review (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 (Astrophysics Theory Program Panel, Origins Program Panel)
Professional Memberships:
Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society
Full Member, American Astronomical Society (General, Planetary Science Division, and High Energy Astrophysics Division)
Full Member, Sigma Xi