School of Humanities and Sciences
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Vahe Petrosian
Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics
BioHow do things evolve in the universe? How are particles accelerated in the universe?
Professor Petrosian’s research covers many topics in the broad area of theoretical astrophysics and cosmology, with a strong focus on high-energy astrophysical processes.
Cosmological studies deal with global properties of the universe, where the main focus is the understanding of the evolution of the universe at high redshifts, through studies of the evolutions of population of sources such as galaxies and quasars or active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, using new statistical techniques developed in collaboration with Prof. B. Efron of the Department of Statistics. Another area of research is the use of gravitational lensing in measuring mass in the universe.
High-energy astrophysics research involves interpretation of non-thermal astronomical sources where particles are accelerated to very high energies and emit various kinds of radiation. These processes occur on many scales and in all sorts of objects: in the magnetosphere of planets, in the interplanetary space, during solar and stellar flares, in the accretion disks and jets around stellar-size and super-massive black holes, at centers of galaxies, in gamma-ray bursts, in supernovae, and in the intra-cluster medium of clusters of galaxies. Plasma physics processes common in all these sources for acceleration of particles and their radiative signature is the main focus of the research here. -
Argenta Margaret Price
Lecturer
BioArgenta Price is a lecturer and teaching and learning specialist in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Prior to joining SDSS, she received her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCSF, then pivoted to be a science education researcher in Carl Wieman’s research group at Stanford for 7 years. She led workshops for faculty members and co-taught a Stanford course about the principles of learning and effective teaching practices. Her research focused on defining the process of solving complex problems and developing better ways to measure and teach the decisions that comprise that process. As a lecturer in SDSS, she is working with Drs. Majumdar and Moler to design their new course, “Decision Making for Sustainable Energy,” in which students will learn to make problem-solving decisions in the context of solving sustainable energy problems at personal, local, and national scales. She will also collaborate with any instructors who are interested in incorporating active learning and inclusive teaching practices, trying innovative assessment methods, measuring the effectiveness of their courses, or developing materials for new courses or topics.