Gravitational wave detection strategies.
Heuristics of gravitational wave detectors.
Thermal noise in mechanical experiments.
Internal friction in materials.

Education
1981 Ph.D. in Physics
Princeton University
1978 A.M. in Physics
Princeton University
1976 A.B. magna cum laude in Physics
Harvard University

Awards & Professional Honors
Martin A. Pomerantz ’37 Professor of Physics
Fellow of the American Physical Society (elected 2003)
Scholar-Teacher of the Year for 2003
Physics Department Undergraduate Teaching Award 2002

Selected Publications
A. Ageev, Belkis Cabrera Palmer, Antonio De Felice, Steven D. Penn, and Peter R. Saulson, “Very high quality factor measured in annealed fused silica”, Classical and Quantum Gravity 21, 3887 (2004).

Peter R. Saulson, “If light waves are stretched by gravitational waves, how can we use light as a ruler to detect gravitational waves?”, American Journal of Physics, 65, 501 (1997).

Gabriela Gonzalez and Peter R. Saulson, “Brownian motion of a torsional pendulum with internal friction”, Physics Letters A 201, 12 (1995).

Peter R. Saulson, Fundamentals of Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors (Singapore: World Scientific) 300 pp. (1994).

Peter R. Saulson, “Thermal noise in mechanical experiments”, Physical Review D 42, 2437 (1990).

Education
2006 Ph.D. in Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2000 Diploma in Physics, with honors in Theoretical Physics
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) – Zurich

Awards & Professional Honors
Robert A. Millikan Postdoctoral Prize Fellowship for Experimental Astrophysics (2006), California Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention, GWIC (Gravitational Wave International Committee) Thesis Prize (2006)

Selected Publications
J. Abadie et.al. , “Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves using LIGO S5 science data”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 271102 (2012).

S. Ballmer, S. Marka, P. Shawhan, “Feasibility of measuring the Shapiro time delay over meter-scale distances”, Class. Quantum Grav. 27 185018.

B. Abbott, et. al., “An upper limit on the stochastic gravitational-wave background of cosmological origin” Nature 460 (2009) 990.

E. Thrane, S. Ballmer, J. D. Romano, S. Mitra, D. Talukder, S. Bose, V. Mandic, “Probing the anisotropies of a stochastic gravitational-wave background using a network of ground-based laser interferometers” Phys. Rev. D80, 122002 (2009).

M. Evans, S. Ballmer, M. Fejer, P. Fritschel, G. Harry, G. Ogin “Thermo-optic noise in coated mirrors for high-precision optical measurements” Phys. Rev. D78, 102003 (2008).

Awards & Professional Honors
Research Corporation Scialog Fellow, 2015
Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2014
Cottrell Scholar, 2010
Syracuse University Meredith Teaching Recognition Award, 2010
Kavli Frontiers Fellow, 2009
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2008

Selected Publications
Abbott B P et al., Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger, Phys Rev Lett 116 061102 (2016).
Hannam Mark, Brown Duncan A, Fairhurst Stephen, Fryer Chris L, and Harry Ian W, When can gravitational-wave observations distinguish between black holes and neutron stars?, Astrophys J Letters 766 L14 (2013).

Singer Leo P, Cenko S Bradley, Kasliwal Mansi M, Perley Daniel A, Ofek Eran O, Brown Duncan A, et al., Discovery and redshift of an optical afterglow in 71 square degrees iPTF13bxl and GRB 130702A, Astrophys J Letters 776 L34 (2013).

Babak S., Biswas R., Brady P. R., Brown D. A., Cannon K., et al., Searching for gravitational waves from binary coalescence, PhysRev D87 024033 (2013).

Brown Duncan A, Harry Ian, Lundgren Andrew, and Nitz Alexander H, Detecting binary neutron star systems with spin in advanced gravitational-wave detectors, Phys Rev D86 084017 (2012).

Abadie J et al., Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence in LIGO’s Sixth Science Run and Virgo’s Science Runs 2 and 3, PhysRev D85 082002 (2012).

He also examine effects on wetlands, the Great Lakes, urban ecosystems, coastal waters and the open ocean. Over the past 35 years, he has advanced new analytical techniques, established and maintained long-term measurements and experiments, and developed a series of research and predictive models that simulate transformations of major chemical elements in forest vegetation, soil and surface waters in response to air pollution, climate and land disturbance. Beyond theory, he is interested in testing ‘in situ’ strategies to reverse the damaging effects of acid rain and mercury contamination and eutrophication. Current research includes using models, field experiments and measurements to examine: ecosystem effects of changing climate and acidic, nitrogen and mercury deposition; the effectiveness of “green” water infrastructure in storm water management; and ecosystem restoration.