Michael T. Lam, Ph.D.
School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology
I am a research scientist at the SETI Institute working with the NANOGrav Collaboration. Currently I work on noise budget analyses for the millisecond pulsars in the NANOGrav pulsar timing array. Our goal is the detection and characterization of nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves from the stochastic gravitational wave background and from individual sources. Gravitational wave observations will complement our electromagnetic view of the Universe.
Current Work
I study the various contributions to noise in our timing models for our millisecond pulsars. Trying to characterize its types and strength is key if we want to mitigate it. I specifically look at instrinsic pulsar timing noise and errors caused by propagation through the interstellar medium. I am co-chair of NANOGrav's Cyber-Infrastructure Working Group and on the collaboration's Management Team.