Fellows

Postdoctoral Fellows

I grew up in Barcelona, Spain, and earned my bachelor's degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. I then moved to Denmark for my master's degree, and I am currently finishing the PhD at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. My research focuses on scattering amplitudes and Feynman integrals, with a particular emphasis on the geometries and special functions that emerge in high-loop computations. This fall, I will join the LCTP as a Leinweber Postdoctoral Fellow, and I look forward to collaborating with Henriette Elvang and her group.

Graduate Fellows

I am a third year student working with Prof. James T Liu. I grew up in the south Indian state of Kerala and obtained my undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of science education and research (IISER) at Pune. My research is centered on various aspects ofsupergravity and AdS/CFT correspondence. Being a low energy limit of strings, supergravity inherits many of its interesting features. It also provides a consistent higher derivative EFT, which could be interpreted as certain superinvariants in appropriate dimensions. I am also interested in understanding objects called Giant gravitons, which are D3 brane solutions in supergravity wrapped on 3-spheres. In the framework of AdS/CFT correspondence, these objects capture important features of the superconformal index. Besides physics I also love pencil drawing and enjoy classical music.

Summer Research Awards

Ismael Mendoza is a 6th year graduate student in the University of Michigan pursuing a PhD in Physics. He completed a MS in Computer Science at Stanford University, where he also received a BS in Physics with Honors.
Ismael has conducted research in optimization theory, general relativity, and computational biology, but his main interest is observational cosmology. He focuses on building algorithms to accurately measure the weak lensing signal from the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), the most sophisticated optical ground-based astronomical survey to date. Ismael also works on analyzing large volumes of data from dark matter simulations to better understand galaxy cluster observables.
Outside of research, he is passionate about teaching and education equity. Ismael has designed and taught several physics and programming courses. He has also worked with children and adults in low-income neighboring communities as a volunteer tutor.
Finally, Ismael is an active member of several scientific communities such as the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, and an ex-member of the Physics Graduate Council at UofM.

I’m a first-year student working with Leopoldo Pando Zayas. Originally from China, I completed my undergraduate work at Beijing Normal University before coming to Michigan. mMy research is centered on the AdS/CFT correspondence. I am currently working on understanding the connections between gravitational and field theory models in different dimensions and trying to obtain more insights into black holes. Outside of physics, I am a big fan of badminton

I’m a fourth-year graduate student working with Leopoldo Pando Zayas. I'm originally from western PA, but completed my undergraduate work at UC Berkeley before coming here to Michigan. My research is centered on the AdS/CFT correspondence, which describes an equivalence between certain gravity theories and quantum field theories. My recent research has focused on the superconformal index, a quantity that can be precisely interpreted on both sides of the correspondence. On the gravity side, the index provides important insight into supersymmetric black holes. I’m very grateful to the Leinweber family who is generously supporting my work. Outside of physics I enjoy running and also have an interest in medieval, renaissance, and baroque music.

Originally from the warm state of California, I relocated to colder environments to continue my pursuit of physics. In 2021, I graduated from MIT with a BS in Physics and Mathematics. I took this quantitative knowledge with me to the University of Michigan, where I am working in the Physics PhD program. As a graduate student in the Leinweber Center for Theoretical Physics, I currently study high-energy theory with Professor Ratindranath Akhoury. My current research focuses on various aspects of quantum gravity, particularly superrotations, graviton scattering, and gravitational memory effects. Looking ahead, I hope to pursue a career in academia, where I can continue exploring deep questions in physics and help mentor future scientists.
Outside of physics, you'll usually catch me completing crosswords and other word games, delving into the fascinating realms of linguistics, military history, and science fiction, and exploring fashion and other visual arts.

I’m a first-year PhD student working with Prof. Dragan Huterer. I got my undergraduate degree in Astronomy from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2024. My research interests lie in theoretical cosmology, particularly in using observational data to better understand the evolution of the Universe. In a recent project, I worked on explaining the role of the late-time growth rate of cosmic structures in the existence of high-redshift massive galaxies. Currently, I’m working on the expansion history of Universe and participating in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey.

I’m in my fifth year of graduate study here at the LCTP, working with Fred Adams and many others on bridging the gaps between higher-dimensional theories, cosmic inflation, and big bang nucleosynthesis. These three hypotheses or observations are nearly inevitable and indisputable, but there are severe puzzles that arise when trying to connect them together into one timeline. My work focuses on alleviating these challenges, regardless of your favorite model or theory, by noting the ubiquity of nonperturbative resonance processes in the early Universe.I received my undergraduate education in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign after growing up in New Hampshire. In my free time I enjoy art projects.

Evan grew up in western Massachusetts, completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins, and is currently a fourth-year PhD candidate working with Professor Aaron Pierce.  Evan is broadly interested in Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) phenomenology and early universe cosmology.
Currently, Evan is studying dark matter.  He has been working to understand what new experimental constraints can tell us about weak-scale dark matter.   He has also been thinking about possible modifications to the typical theories of dark matter production and how such modifications might impact cosmology.
Evan is super excited to continue his work this summer, and would like to extend his gratitude to the Leinweber family for their generous support.  

I am a fourth-year graduate student working with Professor Henriette Elvang on scattering amplitudes, specifically focusing on the bootstrap program. Scattering amplitudes are the observational predictions of theoretical models, describing the interactions of particles. It is known that not every form of scattering amplitudes can be reasonably constructed. They are constrained by certain consistency requirement of our model, including locality, causality, and unitarity. We are interested in explicitly solving these constraints in a various setup, capturing the allowed parameter region of physic models. We are also working on implementing additional assumptions such as the lowest mass spectrum and understanding how would it affect the allowed theoretical region. **Alan will defer his funding to Fall 2024**

My name is Kabelo Tsiane, and I am a first-year Physics Doctoral student. I plan to complete the first chapter of my dissertation, which will be a study on the morphological features of galaxy cluster mass density maps, and how they change under different underlying physical processes and models. Galaxy clusters provide an exciting probe into the accelerated expansion of the Universe, and by studying their morphologies this gives an opportunity to further understand their assembly histories and the Dark Matter physics that holds them together.

I am a first-year student working with Prof. Finn Larsen. Originally from Gurgaon, India, I completed a dual BS-MS degree at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, and subsequently worked as a student researcher at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. I am currently studying the thermodynamics of supersymmetric black holes through holography and exploring novel techniques for computing Euclidean gravitational path integrals in asymptotically flat spacetimes. A deeper understanding of black hole physics using various approaches may provide valuable insights into quantum gravity and the mathematics that describes it through intersubjective verification. My other research interests include the application of quantum information theory to black hole physics and the connections between low-dimensional geometry and physics.

Hi! I am a first-year student starting work with Professor James Liu. I’m from southeast Michigan and completed my undergraduate degree at Xavier University, where I studied Physics and Mathematics. I am fascinated by the beautiful mathematics that can be used to describe the physical world and am excited to explore the connection between gravity and gauge theories by examining the giant graviton expansion of the superconformal index this summer. When I’m not in the office, you will find me either reading a book, playing board games, or at the gym.

Graduating Students

Otavio is originally from Brazil and is currently working with Professor Dragan Huterer. Otavio graduated in 2025 and will be moving to a postdoctoral position in September 2025.