Prize Recipient

Nolan Matthews
University of Utah

"For the development and demonstration of Hanbury Brown & Twiss Stellar Interferometry using the VERITAS array of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes, including the first demonstration of digital electronically interconnected interferometric observations using an array of visible band telescopes."

Nolan Matthews’ research focuses on developing technologies and instruments to expand our knowledge of stellar astrophysics, primarily using the technique of intensity interferometry. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2013, and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Utah under the supervision of his advisor Dr. David Kieda in 2020. His thesis was on the development and first observations with the VERITAS stellar intensity interferometer. This work enabled the four individual Cherenkov telescopes of VERITAS, a ground-based gamma ray observatory located in Amado, AZ, to operate as an optical interferometer, allowing for the characterization of stellar targets with sub- milliarcsecond resolution at short optical wavelengths. Currently, he is working as a postdoctoral research assistant at the Université de la Côte d’Azur applying intensity interferometry techniques onto conventional optical telescopes.

Amy Furniss (Chair), Alessandra Corsi, Raffaella Margutti, Erin Kara