Photo credit: Diana Martinez Llaser
cdvorkin@g.harvard.edu
Faculty Assistant: Morgan Holly (morganholly@fas.harvard.edu)
I am a theoretical cosmologist. My areas of research are: the nature of dark matter, neutrinos and other light relics, and the physics of the early universe. I use observables such as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the large-scale structure of the universe, and strong gravitational lensing to shed light on these questions.
I am a Professor at the Department of Physics at Harvard University.
I am the Harvard Representative at the NSF-funded Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI)’s Board. This is a joint effort together with colleagues at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, and Northeastern. Our goal is to solve problems in fundamental physics and astrophysics using AI, while at the same time improving the AI foundations.
Prior to beginning a faculty position at Harvard in the fall of 2015, I was a NASA Hubble Fellow (awarded by NASA) and an ITC Fellow in the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard. Previously, I was a postdoctoral member of the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. In July 2011, I received my Ph.D. at the Department of Physics of the University of Chicago. I did my undergraduate at the University of Buenos Aires School of Science, where I received my Diploma in Physics (M.S. equivalent). I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 2022, I was voted “favorite professor” by the Harvard senior Class of 2023. I have been awarded the DOE Early Career award (August, 2019), a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship for 2018-2019, and a Shutzer Professorship at the Radcliffe Institute for the period 2015-2019. I have been named the “2018 Scientist of the year” by the Harvard Foundation for “Salient Contributions to Physics, Cosmology and STEM Education”. In 2018 I was selected as the recipient of an award from the Star Family Challenge Fund for Promising Research, which supports high-risk, high-impact scientific research at Harvard. In 2012, I have been given the “Martin and Beate Block Award”, awarded to the best young physicist by the Aspen Center for Physics.
I was the Co-Leader of the Inflation analysis group in the next generation CMB-S4 experiment. Prior to this, I was the Leader of the Dark Matter analysis group. I am also a full member of the Vera Rubin Observatory’s LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC).
For postdoctoral positions in my group: if there is one available, you will see an ad on Academic Jobs Online. Please apply directly there.
For future PhD students: please apply directly to the Physics PhD program (CVs and statements of purpose should not be sent over email).
Last update on April, 2024