APARNA VENKATESAN



Hello, and welcome to my home page!
This page is currently under renovation; please visit again in Fall 2008 for a fuller and more updated website.

I am an assistant professor in the Physics Dept. at the University of San Francisco , and am starting their astronomy program through the introduction of an astronomy minor (expected in 2009).




My research interests are primarily in theoretical cosmology, including studies of the first stars and quasars in the universe, the evolution of cosmic star formation and related observational signatures, the physics and chemistry of gas in the early universe, the cosmic microwave background, and dark matter.

If you are interested in some light summer reading, check out my CV here.

Before moving to the Bay Area, I finished an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship , and a Lectureship position in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

I graduated from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago in 2000; my thesis advisor was Dr. Angela Olinto . Prior to the years in the city of big shoulders, I received my bachelor's degree from Cornell University's Astronomy Department .

You can contact me by email at: avenkatesan "at" usfca.edu
or by phone at: 415-422-6152. My mailing address is:

Department of Physics
2130 Fulton St.
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94117
USA


Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed here are not the responsibility of the Department of Physics or of the University of San Francisco.