Camille Avestruz, assistant professor of physics, has made innovative contributions to galaxy cluster science, specifically in applying artificial intelligence methods for object characterization in astronomical survey imaging. Her work directly addresses foundational questions in cosmology, such as the nature of dark energy, and she has helped shape the future of cosmological research through leadership in large collaborations connected to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

She spearheads an interdisciplinary collaboration between astronomers and statisticians to develop pioneering AI approaches for detecting and disentangling overlapping objects in crowded sky images, improving the reliability of galaxy catalogs.

Avestruz earned her B.A. (2009) in physics, mathematics, and dance from Barnard College and a Ph.D. in physics from Yale University (2015). She held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Chicago, including a Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar appointment in Astronomy and Astrophysics, a Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics fellowship, and an Enrico Fermi Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship. She joined U-M in 2019 as an LSA Collegiate Fellow and is now an assistant professor of physics.

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Camille Avestruz