Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

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Aritra Kundu
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:05 am

Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by Aritra Kundu » Sun Apr 04, 2021 12:23 pm

Hi,

I was searching for potential US grad schools in Cosmology with some faculties working on Cosmic Reionization.

The universities which I found suitable for my field of interest are (no particular order):-

1. U. Washington
2. UT Austin
3. U. Pennsylvania
4. CMU
5. OSU
6. Johns Hopkins
7. ASU
8. Yale
9. McGill (Canada)

Please comment on the above list and I would be thankful if anyone can add other universities to this list.

Here's my profile:-

Currently Masters 2nd year student at an Indian University. Done my Bachelors at the same university.
CGPA = 9.0 / 10 (with 2 semesters remaining)


Research works carried out in Bachelors days:-

1. Did a reading project on basics of 21 cm cosmology during Bachelors (2nd year) and reproduced some results from a paper which would later serve as the main motivation paper for my Bachelors thesis. For this I had to learn MCMC.

2. Carried out my Bachelors thesis on 21 cm cosmology. It was a numerical analysis based work on 21 cm cosmology. I had to write a Python code to simulate the global 21 cm signal and then add some models to it.

Research works in Masters (currently pursuing):

1. Doing my masters thesis on simulating and analysing the time variability properties of blazar jets. A large amount of progress has been carried out and we are thinking of writing a paper. If we do that then I will be the first author and probably will submit / publish (if we get lucky) before applying to grad school.

Publications and Conferences:-

1. Published a second author paper at Physical Review D (supervisor was the first author). This was based on my BSc thesis on 21 cm cosmology.

2. Presented the above work in two conferences (one international and one national) , where the first one was a poster and the second one was a contributed talk.

Future plans before applying to grad schools:-

1. Will start a new project on 21 cm cosmology and cosmic reionization.

I have also attended a few other conferences and participated in schools based on 21 cm cosmology.

P.S. Though my primary interest is reionization, but I do not want to narrow things down only to it. I want to keep options open for other topics like formation of early structures.
Last edited by Aritra Kundu on Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:56 am, edited 2 times in total.

HubbleBubble
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:06 am

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by HubbleBubble » Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:07 pm

Great list and a strong application! One thing I’d mention is that radio astronomy is an oddball area where you might be better off somewhere besides the US, like the UK, the Netherlands, or Australia. They host/control the most advanced telescopes (the SKA will be huge for reionization), as well as most of the jobs in the field. In particular, Manchester, Leiden, and Curtin all have strong groups, but naturally you can’t go wrong with Sydney or Oxbridge.

If you do want to come to America I recommend checking out UVA since they are closely tied with the NRAO.

Aritra Kundu
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:05 am

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by Aritra Kundu » Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:56 am

Thank you.

Yes I agree that Europe also has some great places in this field (I know Max Planck will be a great place in this regard). I will also apply to some of them. But one country which I am not sure about is UK, since most of my senior colleagues and faculty members advise not to go there since getting a scholarship in UK universities is quite difficult for international students.

Though my primary interest is reionization but I do not want to narrow things down only to it. I want to keep options open for other topics like formation of early structures.

HubbleBubble
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:06 am

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by HubbleBubble » Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:35 am

The UK and Australia have quite a tedious international funding route in general. Only one school I applied to was streamlined, Edinburgh, and the international spot was as hard to get into as in the US. The EU is a great option though, and they are more generous in hiring internationals. Several Max Plancks do excellent structure formation work, but are competitive.

If you want to do structure formation in general though many of the biggest names are in the US. There are plenty of places where you can work on observation, people all over work with a wide array of instruments. Theory is quite competitive and the people you’d want to work with are concentrated at the very best schools; you’ve listed the options I’d’ve suggested, and I’m not sure there is much use in telling you “Have you heard of a place called Caltech? Or Harvard? It is in Boston.” Maybe others have a few more targeted suggestions.

Aritra Kundu
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:05 am

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by Aritra Kundu » Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:55 am

I see. Thanks for the information. It was really helpful.

I know Max Planck is really competitive, but since one of my senior colleague got an offer from them I guess I should also take a chance.

Yes Caltech, Harvard and others which are at par with them are some of the best places. But I don't think my profile is that strong to get into them. Maybe I give a shot to one of them, but I'm not so sure about it till now.

HubbleBubble
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:06 am

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by HubbleBubble » Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:38 am

And to be clear, you don’t have to go to them. I just meant for theory there are a few big names but many are at the schools you already listed. But for observation, it more depends on you; any prof with a successful JWST proposal might get you groundbreaking data, for instance. Also, plenty of schools have their own niche telescope that is the most sensitive at certain wavelengths, or the highest spatial resolution, the highest frequency resolution, etc.

bkeller
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:52 pm

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by bkeller » Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:24 pm

Canada has a lot of research going on in 21cm cosmology, perhaps it would be worth your time to take a look there. Experiments like CHIME are carried out across a number of Canadian universities. In particular as you mentioned, McGill has 4 or so different research groups doing both experiment and theory related to 21cm measurement. University of Toronto and University of British Columbia also have people involved in the area as well, though I do not know as much about the particular groups there.

Aritra Kundu
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:05 am

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by Aritra Kundu » Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:41 pm

Thank you so much for all the information.

muryelgp
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:34 pm

Re: Potential US universities for Cosmology with faculties working on Cosmic Reionization

Post by muryelgp » Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:13 pm

For 21 cm cosmology I'll add Arizona State University, it is 'easier' to get in when compare with other elite schools, but it has a great 21 cm group! .



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