New leadership role in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument for Will Percival
WCA Director, Will Percival, has been elected as co-spokesperson for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). He took up the two-year term, along with co-spokesperson, Alexie Leauthaud (University of California Santa Cruz) at the beginning of September.
DESI measures the effect of dark energy on the expansion of the universe by obtaining optical spectra for tens of millions of galaxies and quasars. DESI is a collaboration between hundreds of scientists around the world and has the potential to revolutionize the field of cosmology, using data that is 20 times better than we have currently. Early results from DESI have been exciting so far, with the construction of the largest 3D map of the Universe to date and which looks back 11 billion light years. Percival says the best is still yet to come. “I believe that the most impactful science from DESI is still ahead of us,” he said. “This is an exciting time to have an enhanced role within DESI and I am looking forward to the impact I can have on the project.”
The WCA plays a significant role in DESI. Postdoctoral Fellow Alex Krolewski and Hanyu Zhang spent much of their time on DESI, with Krolewski working as co-lead of the DESI CMB cross correlation group and Zhang working in the galaxy and quasar clustering working group. Grad students Sofia Chiarenza , Tristan Fraser and James Morawetz also work on DESI with Percival, who has been involved with the DESI project for the last 10 years.
Over the next two years, Percival and Leauthaud will work closely in this leadership role working with the team of scientists within DESI to ensure they get the best results possible out of the project. Although Leauthaud is a fellow cosmologist, Percival and Leauthaud study different aspects of our vast universe. “I think our areas of expertise are a great complement to one another and our different perspectives will bring strength to our shared role,” Percival said.
The DESI project is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. DESI is supported by the DOE Office of Science and by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science user facility. Additional support for DESI is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation; the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom; the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA); the National Council of Humanities, Sciences, and Technologies of Mexico; the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain; and by the DESI member institutions (among them LMU Munich).
The DESI collaboration is honored to be permitted to conduct scientific research on Iolkam Du’ag (Kitt Peak), a mountain with particular significance to the Tohono O’odham Nation.