IDEAS Trainees and PI’s Participate in Ground-breaking Research Discoveries

October 2017 was a busy month for our trainees and co-Investigators, as demonstrated by ground-breaking announcements made in two different science fields. These discoveries relied heavily on a particular, and sophisticated method of data analysis that is similar in both areas of study.

On Oct. 5, new findings on the subtle changes in tremor that occur before strong earthquakes were released by the Northwestern McCormick Center for Research.  These findings were determined with the help of IDEAS co-I, Suzan van der Lee; who served as a contributing author in an NSF supported article in the Journal for Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

Just a short time later, on Oct. 16, the field of astrophysics was forever changed by the first-ever observation of two merging neutron stars.  LIGO researchers at Northwestern–including IDEAS primary investigator Vicky Kalogera, and trainees Eve Chase and Michael Zevin–were instrumental in this observation.  Vicky served as the lead astrophysicist on the NSF panel that announced the discovery in Washington DC.

Congratulations to our talented IDEAS family on their incredible achievements and research!