Expertise

Topics:  Galaxy Studies, Observational Cosmology, Astronomical Surveys, Space

Industries: Aerospace

Rachel Mandelbaum's research interests are predominantly in the areas of observational cosmology and galaxy studies. This work includes the use of weak gravitational lensing and other analysis techniques, with projects that range from development of improved data analysis methods, to actual application of such methods to existing data. She has developed algorithms that are used by leading astronomical surveys, including the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey and the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), Euclid and Roman Space Telescope projects and their associated scientific collaborations. She currently serves as CMU's PI for the LINCC Frameworks initiative, developing open-source software to enable the LSST science community's robust, scalable analyses of astronomical imaging data. She served as the spokesperson for the LSST’s Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) from 2019-2021, and previously served as the DESC analysis coordinator and co-leader of the weak lensing working group.

Media Experience

CMU hosts first-ever Physics Slam  — The Tartan
Then, Professor Rachel Mandelbaum introduced the audience to weak gravitational lensing, a measurement using data gained from large sky surveys. Weak gravitational lensing can be used to measure masses, specifically of dark matter in the universe. Her lab uses data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Hyper-SuprimeCam (HSC), which capture detailed images of the galaxy. Professor Mandelbaum’s research asks questions like, “How is dark matter distributed in the universe?” and “What are the main components of the universe?”

Jewish cosmologist is a star at CMU  — The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Rachel Mandelbaum has always asked why. “From when I was a pretty young child, I was interested in learning how stuff worked,” she said.

Carnegie Mellon physicist Rachel Mandelbaum named 2019 Simons Investigator  — EurekAlert!
"I am honored to have been named a Simons Investigator. This source of support will be of great value to my research group during the next five years, which will be particularly exciting times as we explore many questions in cosmology with new datasets," Mandelbaum said.

Hyper Suprime-Cam survey maps dark matter in the universe  — Phys.org
An international group of researchers, including Carnegie Mellon University's Rachel Mandelbaum, released the deepest wide field map of the three-dimensional distribution of matter in the universe ever made and increased the precision of constraints for dark energy with the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey (HSC).

NASA’s Dark-Energy Probe Faces Cost Crisis  — Scientific American
Those include a survey to measure how the structure of the Universe evolved over time, which will shed light on the nature of dark energy. WFIRST’s data should complement the observations of several other dark-energy explorers set to come online in the early 2020s, such as the European Space Agency’s Euclid probe, says Rachel Mandelbaum, an astrophysicist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.