The College of Science is proud to announce that Xavier Siemens, a distinguished astrophysicist and renowned leader in the field of gravitational wave research, has been elected a 2024 Fellow of the American Physical Society.
This prestigious honor is awarded to a select few APS members who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of physics. Siemens is recognized for his “foundational contributions to low-frequency gravitational wave detection using pulsar arrays and his pioneering work in developing methods to calibrate the strain for ground-based interferometers.” His election as an APS Fellow underscores both his profound contributions to astrophysics and the global recognition of his groundbreaking research.
“We are immensely proud of Dr. Siemens’ well-deserved election as a 2024 Fellow of the American Physical Society. His research has transformed our understanding of the Universe, expanding our knowledge of the fundamental forces that shape the cosmos,” said College of Science Dean Eleanor Feingold. "His international leadership in gravitational-wave astronomy brings global recognition to Oregon State University and the College of Science. Especially meaningful to us is his commitment to mentoring students and nurturing the next generation of astrophysicists to carry this groundbreaking work forward.”
Siemens’ research has significantly advanced our understanding of the Universe. His work focuses on gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of time-space predicted by Albert Einstein more than a century ago. In June 2023, Siemens led an international consortium of nearly 200 research collaborators that found compelling evidence for the existence of a “chorus” of low-frequency gravitational waves reverberating across the Universe. This pivotal discovery has garnered global attention with coverage by major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Indian Express, The Washington Post, NPR and AP News, among others.
The findings appear in a collection of four papers authored by researchers from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontier Center, co-directed by Siemens. NANOGrav, established in 2007, became a Physics Frontier Center in 2015 with a $14.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation during Siemens tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Since joining Oregon State in 2019, Siemens has continued to lead NANOGrav, securing an additional $17 million NSF grant in 2021 to further search for gravitational wave signals using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
Siemens academic journey began at the Imperial College in London, where he earned his undergraduate degree and MS in physics in 1995. He then completed his Ph.D. at Tufts University in 2002. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Siemens held postdoctoral positions at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the California Institute of Technology.
