Education:
B.S. in Astrophysics from Caltech in 2008
PhD in Physics and Astronomy from UPenn in 2016
Research Interests: Experimental cosmology, astrophysical instrumentation, data analysis, polarimetry, cosmic microwave background, interstellar medium, dust, cryogenics, balloon-borne telescopes
Publications: ADS List
Google Scholar
SO small aperture telescope at UCSD with research teamThe Simons Observatory
I am an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin working on the Simons
Observatory (SO), a set of cosmic microwave background telescopes scheduled to start operations
in 2023 from the SO high site in the Chilean Atacama Desert. I was previosuly a postdoctoral scholar
at the University of California San Diego where I spent six years designing, building, and testing
the first SO small aperture telescope. To find out more visit
SimonsObservatory.org
BLAST-TNG preparing for launch in Antarctica, Dec. 2018BLAST-TNG
My graduate work centered on the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST)
which observes the polarized dust emission from the Milky Way's interstellar medium. The dust
emission contains a wealth of information about our galaxy's composition and magnetic field
while also being an important foreground source for CMB observations. To learn more about BLAST
visit Northwestern.edu/BLAST
or follow the BLAST-TNG twitter at @BLAST_TNG .
We are currently working on the next iteration of the project, dubbed BLAST Observatory, which is
planned to be a slightly smaller instrument capable of observing at higher frequencies with a longer
flight duration utilization NASA super-pressure balloons.
A render of the SO small aperture telescope mounted in its pointing platform. Render courtesy N. GalitkziUseful Links
Here is a loose collection of links that I think will be useful for people interested in learning more about my research
or who may be joining my lab. The list is not exhaustive and will be updated periodically as I remember or stumble upon
more useful resources.
2021 CMB Summer School is a fantastic collection of jupyter notebooks
presented in a sequenced manner to walk people through the CMB data analysis steps
(SummerSChool github direct link ).
As part of the summer school, there was a link to a tool, CAMB, on the NASA Lambda site that allowed people to play with
fundamental cosmology properties and observe the impact on the angular power spectra. That tool seems to have
been removed, however, I think this Paper
and this Code Repository
provide the necessary materials for someone to replicate the tool and play with some power spectra.
To learn more about the experimental aspect of CMB research, check out the presentations from the
2022 Chicago Summer School .
I participate in a number of education and public outreach activities including public talks, science fair demos, panels, and public observing nights. More details can be found in my CV or by following me on social media. Here are a few select highlights:
I was recently featured in a UCSD article based on my outreach activities, Link
You can find an interview of me as well as videos from around the lab on the Simons Observatory Youtube channel, Link
Email: ngalitzki@utexas.edu
Address: 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712
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