Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry

Welcome to the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at The Pennsylvania State University. In the fall of 1993, Penn State established a Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (CGPG) to enhance inter-disciplinary research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mathematics, and Physics. In the fall of 2001, based on the proposal submitted by the core CGPG faculty, the National Science Foundation established a Physics Frontier Center for Gravitational Physics (CGWP) at Penn State. In 2003, the CGPG celebrated its tenth anniversary through an international conference entitled Gravitation: A Decennial Perspective. It also underwent an external review. The conference and the report of the External Committee brought out the growth in size and stature that the Center had undergone during the decade. In recognition of this growth the Center was restructured and made Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry in the spring of 2004. The administrative staff of the IGPG consists of: Abhay Ashtekar (Director, IGPG), Randi Neshteruk (Administrative Assistant), Sam Finn (Director, CGWP), Kathy Smith (Administrative Assistant), Pablo Laguna (Associate Director, IGPG and CGWP), and Jeff Minelli (Systems Adminstrator). Mission: The Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry is dedicated to fostering the highest quality research and education in general relativity, quantum gravity and related areas of astronomy and astrophysics, computational science, geometry, analysis and mathematical physics. To meet this goal, it serves as an umbrella organization by providing a stimulating, intellectual focal point for synergistic, interdisciplinary research in an atmosphere of free and open inquiry, managing shared resources to enhance research and education in its core disciplinary areas, and engaging in outreach activities to communicate the excitement of frontier discoveries in these disciplines to the broader community.
Research Areas: The main research interests of the IGPG faculty are:
Classical General Relativity Numerical Relativity Geometric Analysis Relativistic Astrophysics	Quantum Gravity Computational Science Gravitational Wave Physics Radio Astronomy
Contact:
Mailing Address: 104 Davey Lab, PMB 258 Physics Department Penn State University University Park PA 16802-6300, USA	Phone: +1 814 863 9601 Fax: +1 814 863 9608
Activities of the Institute are supported in part by The National Science Foundation, The Max Planck Gesellschaft, The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, The Eberly Family Trust Research Fund, and The Pennsylvania State University.
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