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Jessie Muir |
Postdoctoral Fellow at Perimeter Institute. Cosmology theory and data analysis to learn about fundamental physics. |
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I'm a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. I'm interested in using cosmological observations to better understand and constrain fundamental physics, and in studying how we can get as much information as possible out of those observations. I'm also interested in science outreach and in making STEM fields more accessible and welcoming to everyone. I do research as part of the Dark Energy Survey collaboration, where I co-led the analysis team performing a combined analysis of the survey's first three years of galaxy clustering and weak lensing data to constrain extensions to the standard cosmological model. In January 2025 I'll be starting a faculty position at the University of Cincinnati Department of Physics.
I grew up in Romeo, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. I received my undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, where I did an astrophysics undergrad thesis supervised by Mark Voit. I spent two years at the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar where I completed Part III of the Mathematical Tripos and then spent a year working on modified gravity research with Anne-Christine Davis. I got my PhD at University of Michigan's Department of Physics, where my advisor was Dragan Huterer. Before I came to Perimeter Institute, I was a Porat Fellow at Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford. where I was part of Risa Wechsler's galaxy formation and cosmology group.
- PhD in Physics - University of Michigan, 2018.
- MPhil in Astronomy - Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, 2013.
- MASt in Applied Mathematics (Part III) - Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, 2012.
- B.S. Physics & B.S. Astrophysics - Michigan State University, 2010.
- Email: jmuir
atperimeterinstitutedotca - ADS bibliography: Muir-Jessica bibliography
- ORCID: 0000-0002-7579-770X
- github: jessmuir
- August 2024 - I was interviewed by Rebecca Boyle for a Scientific American article reporting on models of dark energy beyond the cosmological constant.
- May 2024 - My artwork was featured in an article on recent cosmology results in the University of Michigan LSA alumni magazine.
- July 2023 - I was awarded the BMO Inclusive Excellence Post-Doctoral Fellowship, which recognizes a track record of fostering an inclusive environment as well as research excellence. This fellowship funds a one-year extension to my postdoc contract at Perimeter Institute.
- June 2023 - I had a great time talking about dark matter and dark energy at the Kitchener-Waterloo Astronomy on Tap at The Crazy Canuck in downtown Kitchener.
- Apr. 2023 - The Dark Energy Survey Year 3 beyond-LCDM key paper, which is the product of an analysis I co-led, was published as an editor's suggestion in Physical Review D. That publication was highlighted in a Perimeter Institute press release.
- Nov. 2022 - The Snowmass Cosmic Frontier report has been released. While I was not heavily involed in the development of this report, I did create an overview illustration for it at the request of the conveners. The illustration is on the title page of the report and can also be found on my "cartoons" page.
- Aug. 2022 - A NASA JPL press release highlighted the DES Year 3 galaxy clustering and weak lensing analysis of models beyond-LCDM that I co-led, mentioning the plenary talk I gave on the study at the COSMO'22 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
For the general public
- "Conversations at the Perimeter" podcast. As a guest on the Perimeter Insitute's podcast, I talked about dark energy and how we can learn about it using galaxy surveys like the Dark Energy Survey, as well as making science cartoons, collaborative science, and more. There's also a youtube video of the discussion linked here.
- "Mapping the dark side of the Universe" (Public lecture, 1h15m+questions) In March 2023 I presented at a meeting of the Mississauga Centre Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. The talk was in person with a zoom component, and this is a recording of the zoom feed.
- "Echoes of the Early Universe" (Public lecture, 1hr) - I gave this talk for the general public in July 2020 as part of KIPAC's online "Discover" series. It's about the Cosmic Microwave Background, and how we can use measurements of it to learn about the history of the Universe and about fundamental physics.
Technical
- "Testing the standard cosmological model with the Dark Energy Survey" (Seminar, 1hr) This is a recording of my talk at the CITA seminar in early October 2022.
- "DES Y3 Constraints on Beyond-ΛCDM Models with Weak Lensing & Clustering" (Conference talk, 40m) - This is a plenary talk that I gave with Agnès Ferté for the 2022 Cosmology From Home conference. In it, we give an overview of the DES Y3 key paper reporting the analysis we co-led constraining several kinds of physics beyond the standard cosmological model.
- "Towards precision cosmology on the largest observable scales" (Conference talk, 30m) - This is a talk I gave as a finalist for the APS Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Thesis Prize during a virtual session of the 2020 APS April meeting. It covers my dissertation projects on ISW signal reconstruction, CMB large-angle anomaly covariances, and multi-probe blinding for cosmology analysis.