Deirdre Shoemaker, Assistant Professor

Contact Information   Email: deirdre [at] gatech.edu   Phone: (404) 385-3908   Fax: (404) 894-9958   Web: http://www.cra.gatech.edu/deirdre   Office: 1-65 Boggs Bldg

Research

This is a unique time in science, one that will witness a change in our understanding of gravity, one of the four fundamental interactions of nature. This change is shepherded by the imminent detection of gravitational waves. Facilities such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) are now operational and conducting searches. Fundamental to the success of the search for gravitational waves is the theoretical modeling of the sources that produce them. This is the main thrust of my research in numerical relativity, with the aim of solving Einstein's equations governing gravity for the strongest source of gravitational waves, the final few orbits and plunge of two black holes. Taken together with gravitational wave detection, these models probe the mysteries of relativity by interpreting what nature is telling us about gravity. The end result may just be a whole new way of looking at gravity ...

Professional Experience

• 2008 - Assist. Professor, Physics, Georgia Tech
• 2008 - Adjunct Assist. Professor, Computational Science and Engineering Division, Georgia Tech
• 2004 - 2008 Assist. Professor, Physics, Penn State
• 2002 - 2004 Research Associate, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University
• 1999 - 2002 Postdoc, Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, Penn State
• 1995 - 1999 Ph.D., Physics, University of Texas at Austin
• 1990 - 1994 B.Sc., Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics, Penn State