My research focuses on measuring the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). I've been involved with BICEP1, BICEP2 and the Keck Array. The initial results from BICEP2 received considerable amount of attention in the press. For details and data products, please see the bicepkeck.org page. More recently, we have been collaborating with the Planck team to place joint constraints on gravitational waves and galactic dust emission.

The theory of inflation posits a period of exponential expansion in the early universe. Inflation provides an way to glimpse into physics happening at energy scales beyond what we could ever dream to test in our earth based accelerators, and even a testing ground for non-Standard Model physics such as string theory and quantum gravity.

A generic prediction of inflation is the generation of gravitational waves in the early universe. These waves imprint themselves on the Cosmic Microwave Background, leaving a particular pattern in the polarization of the CMB. The pattern is known as a B-mode and it's amplitude depends on the amplitude of the initial gravitational waves.