Curriculum Vitae of Licia Verde

Address: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
University of Pennsylvania
209 South 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396
Phone: +1 215 898 9596, email: lverde@physics.upenn.edu
http://www.physics.upenn.edu/$\sim$lverde

Born: Venice (Italy) 14 October 1971.

CAREER

July 2003- present: Assistant Professor, Dept. Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania

July 2002-June 2003: Chandra Fellow and Spitzer fellow, Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University

July 2001-June 2002: Research Associate, Rutgers University, NJ, USA.

September 2000 - June 2001: Research Associate, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.

October 1996 - August 2000: PhD student at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, UK.

VISITING POSITIONS

Princeton University, Dept. of Astrophysical sciences, NJ, USA (July 2001-June 2002)

Rutgers University Dept of Physics & Astronomy, NJ USA (September 2000 - June 2001)

Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh, UK (August 2001)

Caltech CA, USA (June - July 2001)

Caltech CA, USA (May - July 2000)

Columbia University NY, USA (February - April 1999)

DEGREES

PhD, University of Edinburgh. Thesis entitled ``$\Omega$, Bias and Primordial Non-Gaussianity'', supervisor: Prof. Alan F. Heavens (February 2001)

Laurea degree in Physics, University of Padova. Thesis entitled ``Large- scale bias in the Universe''. Supervisors Prof. Sabino Matarrese, Prof. Alan Heavens. Graded 110/110 cum laude (July 1996)

``Maturità classica'' (July 1990)

RESEARCH INTERESTS The subjects I have been working on are:

Cosmology; statistics of the cosmic microwave background fluctuations, in particular I have been directly involved with analysis and interpretation of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite (WMAP) data, and I am part of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) science team; Dark energy; use of higher order correlations in cosmology and their applications to galaxy redshift surveys in particular the Anglo-Australian two-degree galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS); statistical analysis of large-scale structure; relationship between the clustering properties of visible matter and of the dark matter; nature of the primordial fluctuations: the initial conditions for cosmological structure formation; galaxy clusters scaling relations; problems for the CDM paradigm on small scales: galaxy cusps and dwarf galaxies.

Major projects I have been involved with are (in chronological order):

• I have measured the relationship between the clustering properties of visible matter and of the dark matter from the 2dFGRS catalog. This work became one of the Two-degree-Field Galaxy Redshift Survey team papers. This measurement is particularly important in cosmology as the theory predicts the clustering properties of the dark matter but we mostly trace the large-scale structure via the clustering of visible matter. This measurement led to a determination of the density parameter of the Universe independent from the CMB.
• For the past 5 years I have been a member of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) science team and I have been directly involved in the analysis, interpretation and the release of the observations of the WMAP satellite. Two articles that reported the WMAP results in 2003 have been the first and second most cited papers in astronomy in 2003 and 2004 and the second and the third most cited papers in physics and in astronomy in the year 2003, 2004 and 2005, surpassed only by ``Review of particle physics. Particle data group''. (source SLAC SPIRES).

• I am a member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) science team (first light 2006/7). More information at http://www.physics.princeton.edu/act/
• I am part of a proposed NASA space mission as part of JDEM (Joint Dark Energy Mission¹): Advanced Dark Energy Physics Telescope (ADEPT). ADEPT has been selected and funded for Concept Study.

GRANTS and AWARDS (past 5 years only)

FEW grant (from University of Pennsylvania) 3,800 USD to invite Internatinally renown women physicists to campus to lecture and ecourage the participation of women in science.

NSF PIRE, Co. I., about 2.3 M USD (July 2005)

NASA Astrophysics Data Program (ADP), P.I., 149,240 USD (Jan 2005)

NASA group achievement award (July 2004) for the results of the WMAP mission

NASA Astrophysics Data Program (ADP), P.I., 133,935 USD (Jan 2004)

Spitzer Fellowship, Princeton University (2003)

Chandra postdoctoral Fellowship (July 2002)

INVITED TALKS & SEMINARS (past 5 years)

Colloquium, Ohio University, May 2007

Colloquium, Ohio State University, May 2007

Colloquium, Dresden University, April 2007

``Observing dark energy'' 4 lectures at Adanced School ``The Dark side of the Universe'' Como (IT) May 2007

Colloquium, Delaware University April 2007

CERN colloquium, " Update on cosmological parameters" March 2007

2 lectures at ``PIRE school in cosmology'' at Universidad Catolica de Chile, March 2007.

Colloquium Columbia University Oct 2006

''Kahler Inflation and cosmology'', Benasquez meeting (ES), Aug. 2006.

''The standard cosmological model'' Two lectures at Southern Cosmology Survey summer school, Princeton (June 2006)

``Stacking weak lensing signals of SZ clusters to contrain cluster physics'', Budapest cosmology Meeting, June 2006; Aspen winter conference, Jan 2006.

``WMAP returns'', Columbia Physics dept., March 2006; Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, April 2006; Michigan Inflation workshop, Michigan University, May 2006; Caltech, May 2006, Valencia, Spain at Bernard Jones 60th birthday (June 2006)

''Connecting cosmology to fundamental Physics'' at ``Cosmology and underground labs'', Valencia March 2006; Physics Colloquium Michigan University, March 2006; IFT Madrid March 2006.

''Optimizing CMB Polarization experiments to constrain Inflationary physis'' Caltech Astronomy department (Oct. 2005), UC Berkeley (Oct 2005), University of Illinois (UIUC) (Dec 2005), IEEC Barcelona Spain (Dec 2005).

``Compementarity in dark energy measuerements'' at ``Probing the dark Universe with Subaru and Gemini'', Hawaii (Nov 2005)

``Atacama Cosmology Telescope: dealing with Einstein's greatest blunder'' Waterloo University Physics Colloquium (Oct 2005)

``Why should you care about CMB experiments?" PI/APC Workshop on Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental Physics, Perimeter Institute (Oct 2005)

``Relation between the CMBR and Large Scale Structure'' Crafoord symposium, Stockholm, Sept. 2005

``Constraining the evolution of the dark energy potential'' KICP Chicago (March 2005)

``Seeing dark energy with the cosmic microwave background and galaxy surveys'' (Popular) Dark energy session at 2005 AAAS Washington.

``Seeing dark energy with galaxies and the cosmic microwave background'' Astronomy Department Bologna (IT), Scuola Normale superiore Pisa (IT), Physics dept. Roma 2 (IT): Dec 2004; Physics dept. Syracuse (USA): October 2004

Four lectures on ``Cosmology with the CMB'' at National School in astrophysics, Asiago, IT September 2004.

Two talks at Euroscience Open forum, ``The cosmic connection'' and ``The top 10 mysteries of the Universe'', (Popular) Stockholm, August 2004

``Recent CMB results'' plenary talk at GR-17 Dublin IR, July 2004

``Cosmology from the Cosmic microwave background and galaxy surveys'' Niels Bohr lecture series, Copenaghen, May 2004

``Cosmology from the Cosmic microwave background and galaxy surveys'' ; Physics Colloquium Loyola University New Orleans, April 2004; Lousiana State University, April 2004.

``Observing Dark Energy with the CMB'' at ''Observing dark energy'' conference, Tucson AZ, March 2004

``Dark energy'' 15th Annual US-Frontiers of Science Meeting, National Academy of Sciences, Irvine (CA), November 2003.

Two lectures on CMB and Large scale structure, NorFA meeting on Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Oslo, Norway, 30 Oct.-1 Nov. 2003

``Implications for cosmology of WMAP first year results''

CMB-net meeting Oxford, UK, February 2003; Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK, March 2003; Rutgers University, NJ, March 2003; Universidad autonoma de Madrid, Spain, March 2003; University of Salamanca, Spain, March 2003; Universidad de Canarias, Spain March 2003; US-Japan Seminar on SZE, Japan June 16-20 2003; 10 th Marcel Grossman Meeting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20-26 July 2003; Lepton Photon 2003 Fermilab, 11-16 August 2003; COSMO03 Ambleside (UK), August 25-29 2003; Multiwavelength mapping of galaxy formation Venice (IT), 13-16 October 2003, Sissa, Trieste, Italy, October 2003; UK Annual Theory Meeting, Durham, 18-21 Dec 2003; Physics Colloquium Gettysburgh College, Dec 2003; Space Telescope Science Institute Colloquium, Dec 2003; CIDA, Venezuela Jan. 2004, Rencontre de Physique de la Vallee' d'Aoste (le Thuile) Feb 2004, Cern theory division, May 2004

``Comparing and combining WMAP with external data sets'', Inflation meeting in Davis, March 22-25 2003; Columbia University, Nov 2003; University of Sussex, March 2004; Imperial college London, March 2004.

``Measuring dark energy three different ways'' AAS, Nashville, May 2003

``Combining Cosmic Microwave Background observations and Galaxy Surveys'', Cool astronomy for everyone session at AAS, Nashville, May 2003

``Combining data sets to study cosmology'', Lecture at Prospects in Theoretical physics Summer school, Institute for Advanced Study, July 2003

``Combining LSS & CMB Power Spectra'' NuCosmo workshop, Fermilab Nov. 2002

``Abundance of dwarf galaxies and dark matter halo profiles from observed rotation curves'', ``Predictions of Cold Dark Matter models on small scales'' workshop, University of Chicago, Aug. 2002

``The bias of galaxies and the matter density of the Universe from the 2dFGRS'', Rutgers University (Oct 2001), CfA (Jan 2002), University of Pennsylvania (Feb 2002), Osservatorio di Arcetri(March 2002), Yale University (March 2002), University of Michigan (April 2002), University of Washington (April 2002), Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (June 2002).

``Studying clusters and dark energy with ACT'', Oxford University (March 2002)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE (past 5 years)

``Survey of the Universe'', (course Astro 001001) University of Pennsylvania (Fall 2006) about 67 students enrolled (number is still fluctuating)
http://www.physics.upenn.edu/$\sim$lverde/astro01$_-$06.html

``Introduction to Cosmology'', (course Astro012001), University of Pennsylvania (Spring 2006).
http://www.physics.upenn.edu/$\sim$lverde/astro012.html

``Survey of the Universe'', (course Astro 001001) 15 students enrolled University of Pennsylvania (Spring 2005) 61 students enrolled

``Survey of the Universe'', (course Astro 001001) University of Pennsylvania (Fall 2004) 29 students enrolled

``Galaxies and the Universe'', (course Astro 005001) University of Pennsylvania (Spring 2004) 19 students enrolled

``The big bang and beyond'', (course Astro 007301) University of Pennsylvania (Fall 2003) 30 students enrolled

Re-organization of Astronomy Journal club (experimental) Sept 2006

Visiting grad student advisor (Maria Beltran) (Nov 2006)

Grad student advisor (Chris D'Andrea) (May 2005-present)

Advisor of a visiting graduate student (Ingunn Wheus) (September 2004-December 2004)

Informal advisor of undergraduate student (Yoon-Min Choi) (Sept. 2004-present) She now holds a scholarship at Fels Institute of Government.

Advisor of two graduate students summer projects (Chris D'Andrea, Jorge Moreno) (May-August 2004)

Co-supervising one undergraduate senior thesis (Erika Nelson) (Sept. 2003-June 2004).

Advisor of one graduate student (Carolyn Sealfon) (July 2003-June 2006). Dr. Sealfon is now assistant professor at West Chester Unversity.

Occasional teaching of ``Principles of astrophysics'' (course 341) Rutgers University (fall 2001)

Other

Postdoctoral advisor of Carlos Hernadez-Monteagudo (Feb 2005 -- present) , and of Viviana Acquaviva (starting Nov 2006).

Public understanding of science
My research has been featured in several newspapers/books, among them:
for the large scale structure research: The New York Times Science section (8 January 2002), The International Herald Tribune (11 Jan. 2002), The Guardian (11 Dec. 2001), Science News (Vol. 161, No. 1, Jan. 5, 2002, p. 5.), Sydney Morning Herald (17 Dec. 2001), The Scotsman; Scientific American, Jan 2004.
for the CMB research: Science (19 Dec 2003, ``The breakthrough of the year''), Echo of the big bang (book by M. Lemonick, Princeton University Press) and on my research in general ``Il gazzettino'' (IT) March 2003), ``Il sole 24 ore'' (IT) (Sep 2004), ``msnbc.com'' (Women explore the frontiers of physics, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7374458/page/3/ (18/4/2005), ``The Chronicle of Higher Education'' (6/3/2005), ``Science next wave'' (7/01/2005)
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2005/06/30/4.

I have been invited to lecture at Amateur Astronomers associations and for college science instructors.
I have been invited to lecture at the Euroscience open forum 2004 and at the Feb. 2005 AAAS ``Understanding Dark Energy'' session.

Astronomical service
Referee for ApJ, MNRAS, PRD, PRL, Nature, A&A, CQG
NASA grant allocation committee (twice)
NASA postdoctoral application review committee.
Co-organizer of Aspen winter conference ``The large scale distribution of mass and light in the universe''
SOC: 2007 "Data Analysis in Cosmology", Santander.
National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science 2004 Organizing Committee.
Reviewer for the astronomy textbook ``The Cosmic Perspective'' Bennett et al. 4th ed.

Service to the University
Colloquium Committe (2006/7)
Search committe (2003/4- 2005/6)
Undergraduate Committee (2003/4 and 2004/5)
Astro-seminars organizer (Fall 2004-Spring 2005)

LANGUAGES

Italian, English, Spanish, French