Dr. Marek Szczepańczyk is a laureate of the Polish Returns program of the National Agency for Academic Exchange
2024-09-19
The seventh edition of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange program Polish Returns has been decided, thanks to which outstanding Polish scientists who have previously developed their scientific careers abroad can continue their research at domestic universities and scientific and research institutes. As part of this year's edition of the program, out of 30 submitted applications, 11 scientists received funding for their research.
One of the laureates is Marek Szczepańczyk, Ph. D., who, after 10 years in the United States, returned to Poland to implement the project Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics at the Chair of Theory of Relativity and Gravitation at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw.
Dr. Szczepańczyk works on data from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observations and is, among others, a co-author of the publication on the discovery of gravitational waves. He received his doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Michele Zanolin at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He spent his postdoctoral position at the University of Florida collaborating with Prof. Sergey Klimenko. Dr. Szczepańczyk specializes in searching for gravitational waves from colliding compact objects, such as black holes, and those astrophysical sources waiting to be discovered, such as supernova explosions. He is responsible for sending alerts on gravitational wave discoveries during current LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observations. The main interest of the Laureate is searching for gravitational waves from extraordinary sources (new astrophysical populations, events with unusual properties or those with accompanying observations of light or neutrinos).
Thanks to the NAWA program, the returning scientist will be able to continue his research in Poland. As part of the Polish Returns program with the NCN research component, Dr. Szczepańczyk will build a research group at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw dealing with gravitational waves and conduct a one-year course in this field. The funds received will also enable the invitation of numerous experts from abroad to cooperate with the laureate and Polish scientists.
https://www.fuw.edu.pl/~mszczepanczyk/
https://www.ncn.gov.pl/aktualnosci/2024-08-19-laureaci-pp-nawa-2023-z-komponentami-badawczymi-od-ncn