The UBC Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (UBC Blusson QMI) recently announced that Jess McIver had joined its team of Principal Investigators along with Dr. Olivia Di Matteo in UBC’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Dr. Jess McIver is an Associate Professor at UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and currently serves as the Deputy Spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Dr. McIver’s research explores the hidden Universe with gravitational waves, including black holes and neutron stars, with current ground-based detectors LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA, and future space-based detector LISA.
Her group plays a crucial role in gravitational wave science, contributing to searches for signals from spinning neutron stars and characterizing gravitational wave sources like merging black holes and neutron stars. They also develop innovative techniques for multi-messenger astrophysics, using machine learning methods to enable rapid, accurate validation of candidate gravitational wave events.
Dr. McIver has played a key role in advancing the performance of gravitational wave detectors, leading recent efforts in noise characterization and detector calibration. Her contributions have enabled landmark discoveries, including the Nobel-prize-winning first detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes (GW150914) and the first multi-messenger detection of gravitational waves in concert with light from the merger of two neutron stars (GW170817). Her team’s work supports the current LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run, which has added over 100 new gravitational wave candidates to the previous 90 detections reported from previous observing runs.
As part of UBC’s LIGO effort, a team of UBC Blusson QMI researchers led by Dr. McIver is working towards improving the mirror coatings for future gravitational wave detector upgrades. UBC Blusson QMI Investigators Joerg Rottler, Jeff Young, and Ke Zou have combined their expertise in modelling, thin-film deposition, and characterization to enable a cycle of simulation, fabrication, and measurement of candidate thin-film materials with the potential to develop new materials that would allow gravitational-wave detectors to increase their reach into deep space, allowing researchers to conduct new tests of cosmology and general relativity.
Read more about Olivia Di Matteo’s contributions in the UBC Blusson QMI announcement: https://qmi.ubc.ca/ubc-qmi-welcomes-dr-olivia-di-matteo-and-dr-jess-mciver-as-new-principal-investigators/