Dr. Stephen M. Merkowitz NASA/GSFC Code 661 Greenbelt, MD 20771 Phone: (301) 286-9412 FAX: (301) 286-1684 email: Stephen.M.Merkowitz@nasa.gov

PRESENT POSITION

Astrophysicist at the Laboratory of High Energy Astrophysics at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Integrated Modeling Lead and member of the Integrated System Team for the LISA gravitational wave mission.

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1995.

M.S., Louisiana State University, 1994.

B.A., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1989.

PAST RESEARCH:

Research Associate with the Eöt-Wash group at the University of Washington, pioneering new techniques in high-precision studies of weak-field gravity. Search for experimental signatures of quantum gravity that are expected to violate the Equivalence Principle (the equivalence between gravitational mass and inertial mass) at length scales ranging between the inaccessible Planck length and infinity. Performed a new measurement of Newton's Gravitational Constant G with unprecedented sensitivity.

As a member of the Italian group ROG and the gravity wave group at Louisiana State University I helped start the SFERA and TIGA projects for the development of a large spherical gravitational wave antenna. My main contribution was design and construction of a prototype Truncated Icosahedral Gravitational wave Antenna (TIGA). Using this prototype we were able to solve many of the practical problems of deconvolving the data from a spherical antenna.

At LSU I was responsible for all aspects of building and testing the room-temperature prototype TIGA. I designed and fabricated the spherical mass (truncated icosahedron), suspension system, and resonant transducers. In Italy I developed a suspension system for a twin prototype I had made for ROG while I was at LSU.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS:

Structural, thermal, optical and gravitational modelling for LISA, by Stephen M Merkowitz, Shelly Conkey, William B Haile, William R Kelly III, Hume Peabody and Philip J Dumont, Class. Quant. Grav. 21, S603 (2004).

Pointing acquisition and performance for the laser interferometry space antenna mission, by T. T. Hyde, P. G. Maghami and S. M. Merkowitz, Class. Quant. Grav. 21, S635 (2004).

The LISA integrated model, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, Class. Quant. Grav. 20, S255 (2003).

A µNewton thrust-stand for LISA, by S. M. Merkowitz, P. G. Maghami, A. Sharma, W. D. Willis and C. M. Zakrzwski, Class. Quant. Grav. 19, 1745 (2002).

Measurement of Newton's Constant Using a Torsion Balance with Angular Acceleration Feedback, by Jens H. Gundlach and Stephen M. Merkowitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2869 (2000).

Errors on the inverse problem solution for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, J. Alberto Lobo and M. Angeles Serrano, Class. Quant. Grav. 16, 3035 (1999).

Final isolation stage for a spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, Eugenio Coccia, Viviana Fafone, Guido Raffone, Maria Schipilliti and Massimo Visco, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 1553 (1999).

Deconvolving the information from an imperfect spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Europhys. Lett. 41, 355 (1998).

Solution to the inverse problem for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, Phys. Rev. D 58, 062002 (1998).

Techniques for detecting gravitational waves with a spherical antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 56, 7513 (1997).

First tests of a Truncated Icosahedral Gravitational Wave Antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 53, 5377 (1996).

Spherical Gravitational Wave Antennas and the Truncated Icosahedral Arrangement, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 51, 2546 (1995).

Truncated Icosahedral Gravitational Wave Antenna, by Warren W. Johnson and Stephen M. Merkowitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2367 (1993).

A more complete list of papers can be found here.

Full Curriculum Vitae.