Ahmed develops cryogenic TES bolometer arrays and SQUID multiplexing readout for next-generation CMB polarization instruments (CMB-S4 and predecessors), working at the intersection of quantum-limited detector physics and observational cosmology.
Ashley builds instruments that must work unattended in the worst environment on Earth: the PLATO and related autonomous observatories on the Antarctic plateau (Dome A/C), where he characterised the site's exceptional infrared background, seeing and atmospheric stability, and built the power, thermal and control systems needed for a telescope to survive a polar winter with no human present. He also works on low-noise infrared detectors and on CubeSat instrumentation. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — the discipline here — making a low-noise detector work reliably outside a controlled laboratory, with a hard power and thermal budget — is the same one that separates a benchtop pT/sqrt(Hz) magnetometer from a deployable one, and it is a skill set the quantum sensing field is short of. Borderline inclusion under the astronomy criterion; kept because the sensor and its environment are the entire object of study.
Bale directs Space Sciences Laboratory and leads the FIELDS instrument suite on NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which combines search-coil and fluxgate magnetometers with electric-field antennas to make in-situ, high-cadence measurements of the electromagnetic fields threading the solar wind and corona. His group also contributes field instrumentation to Solar Orbiter and other heliophysics missions, pushing the sensitivity and bandwidth of spacecraft field sensors used to study particle acceleration and turbulence.
Bean's group designed, built, and operates MAROON-X, a fiber-fed, high-dispersion precision radial-velocity spectrograph on the 8m Gemini-North telescope, achieving sub-m/s-class radial-velocity precision to detect and mass-characterize small planets around nearby M dwarfs and to identify/refine targets for JWST atmospheric spectroscopy. This is an astronomy pivot from quantum sensing in the sense the filter intends: a purpose-built, cutting-edge-sensitivity spectrograph (rather than a quantum sensor per se) enabling detection at the edge of instrumental precision.
Observational exoplanet astronomer using ground- and space-based facilities (including HST and JWST) to characterize exoplanet atmospheres and compositions.
Observational cosmologist working on the Dark Energy Survey and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory/LSST, using wide-field optical imaging to study dark energy, dark matter, and dwarf galaxies; involved in survey instrumentation and analysis pipelines.
Studies planetary dynamics and exoplanetary system architectures, combining theoretical dynamical modeling with observational discovery of exoplanets; 2026 AAS DDA Vera Rubin Early Career Prize recipient.
Studies the global structure of the Milky Way (bulge, bar, disk, spiral arms) using infrared and radio observations of stars and gas, and the evolution of galaxy groups via radio observations.
Develops cryogenic detector technology for CMB experiments. Directions: (1) TES bolometer array design and fabrication for SPT-3G and CMB-S4; (2) MKID detector development as alternative to TES for next-generation CMB focal planes; (3) low-noise SQUID multiplexed readout for large-format arrays; (4) SPT-3G science: CMB lensing, cluster SZ, B-mode polarization. Argonne joint appointment.
Builds astronomical spectroscopic instrumentation and studies galaxy structure, dynamics, and evolution via integral field spectroscopy (e.g., SDSS-IV MaNGA); leads WIYN telescope instrumentation efforts.