Biography

I am an Assistant Professor of Physics at Kenyon College. My research interests are in gravitational-wave astrophysics and astronomy. Most recently, my research time has been focused on calibration of the LIGO detectors and using machine learning algorithms to improve the quality of LIGO data. More information about my research program and current student projects can be found in the "Research" section of this site. I teach a variety of classes at Kenyon. Below I have linked the syllabi for the courses I have taught in my time at Kenyon. For more information about me please see my CV.

Courses Taught

Fall 2020

NOTE: This semester took place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PHYS 105 - Frontiers of Gravity (offered remotely and asynchronously)

This is a course designed for students who do not intend to be physics majors but are interested in learning some physics. This course takes a topical focus, exploring three big topics in the area of gravitational physics today.

PHYS 140 - Classical Physics (offered in a hybrid format)

This course is a calculus-based introduction to physics designed for potential physics majors.

Spring 2020

NOTE: This semester was interrupted after spring break due to COVID-19. The last half of the semester was taught remotely. Adjustments were made to my courses when we switched to a remote format, and I have included both the in-person and update-for-remote-instruction syllabi below.

PHYS 270 - Introduction to Computational Physics

This course is a one-semester introduction to ideas and techniques of computational physics.

PHYS 146 - Introduction to Experimental Physics II

This is laboratory course designed to complement our Modern Physics course for first-year, second-semester potential physics majors.

Fall 2019

PHYS 350 - This is an upper-level theory course on electricity and magnetism designed for junior and senior physics majors.

Spring 2019

I was on junior leave this semester.

Fall 2018

PHYS 105 - Frontiers of Gravity

This is a course designed for students who do not intend to be physics majors but are interested in learning some physics. This course takes a topical focus, exploring three big topics in the area of gravitational physics today.

PHYS 141 - First-year Seminar in Physics

The first-year seminar in physics course is designed for all first-year, first-semester students interested in a physics major. This course explores topics of the professor's choosing and is meant to engage students in current research questions. I team-taught this course with Prof. Les Wade, and we focused on our research area, which is gravitational-wave physics.

Spring 2018

PHYS 270 - Introduction to Computational Physics

This course is a one-semester introduction to ideas and techniques of computational physics.

PHYS 146 - Introduction to Experimental Physics II

This is laboratory course designed to complement our Modern Physics course for first-year, second-semester potential physics majors.

Fall 2017

PHYS 350 - Electricity and Magnetism this semester.

This is an upper-level theory course on electricity and magnetism designed for junior and senior physics majors.

For this course we are using the text "Introduction to Electrodynamics" by David J. Griffiths.

Spring 2017

My son Jeremiah was born on November 12, 2016, and so I took the Spring 2017 semester for maternity leave.

Fall 2016

PHYS 140 - Classical Physics

This course is a calculus-based introduction to physics designed for potential physics majors.

PHYS 131 - Introduction to Experimental Physics I

This is a laboratory course that compliments our introductory physics course geared towards pre-health profession majors.

Spring 2016

PHYS 270 - Introduction to Computational Physics

This course is a one-semester introduction to ideas and techniques of computational physics.

PHYS 146 - Introduction to Experimental Physics II

This is laboratory course designed to complement our Modern Physics course for first-year, second-semester potential physics majors.

PHYS 105 - Frontiers of Gravity

This is a course designed for students who do not intend to be physics majors but are interested in learning some physics. This course takes a topical focus, exploring three big topics in the area of gravitational physics today.

Recent Publications

Seminal and Detection Publications

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of 150 Solar Masses.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 101102 (2020).

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 Solar Mass Black Hole with a 2.6 Solar Mass Compact Object.” Astrophys. J. Lett. 896, L44 (2020).

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW190412: Observation of a Binary-Black-Hole Coalescence with Asymmetric Masses.” Phys. Rev. D 102, 043015

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass 3.4M⊙.” Astrophysical Journal Letters 892 (2020) L3.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs.” Phys. Rev. X 9, 031040 (2019).

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW170608: Observation of a 19 Solar-mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters Volume 851, Issue 2, article id. L35, 11 pp. (2017).

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 119 (2017) 161101.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 119 (2017) 141101.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade, et al. “GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 118 (2017) 221101.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade , et al. “Binary Black Hole Mergers in the First Advanced LIGO Observing Run.” Phys. Rev. X 6 (2016) 041015.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade , et al. “GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 (2016) 241103.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade , et al. “Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger.” Phys. Rev. Lett 116 (2016) 061102.*

*The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rai Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne for the work reported in this paper.

Short-Author List Publications and Primary Contributor Publications

• M. Wade, A.D. Viets, M. Stover (Kenyon College ’20), Theresa Chmiel (Kenyon College ’17). “Improving LIGO calibration accuracy using adaptive filtering techniques.” In prep.

• L. Sun, E. Goetz, J. S. Kissel, J. Betzwieser, S. Karki, A. Viets, M. Wade, D. Bhattacharjee, V. Bossilkov, P. B. Covas, L. E. H. Datrier, R. Gray, S. Kandhasamy, Y. K. Lecoeuche, G. Mendell, T. Mistry, E. Payne, R. L. Savage, A. J. Weinstein, S. Aston, A. Buikema, C. Cahillane, J. C. Driggers, S. E. Dwyer, R. Kumar, A. Urban. “Characterization of systematic error in Advanced LIGO calibration.” Accepted by Classical Quantum Gravity, 2020 Preprint arXiv:2005.02531

• S. Sachdev, S. Caudill, H. Fong, R. K. L. Lo, C. Messick, D. Mukherjee, R. Magee, L. Tsukada, K. Blackburn, P. Brady, P. Brockill, K. Cannon, S. J. Chamberlin, D. Chatterjee, J. D. E. Creighton, P. Godwin, A. Gupta, C. Hanna, S. Kapadia, R. N. Lang, T. G. F. Li, D. Meacher, A. Pace, S. Privitera, L. Sadeghian, L. Wade, M. Wade, A. Weinstein, S. L. Xiao. “The GstLAL Search Analysis Methods for Compact Binary Mergers in Advanced LIGO’s Second and Advanced Virgo’s First Observing Runs”. 2019 Preprint arXiv:1901.08580.

• R. Magee, A.-S. Deutsch, P. McClincy, C. Hanna, C. Horst, D. Meacher, C. Messick, S. Shandera, M. Wade. “Methods for the detection of gravitational waves from sub-solar mass ultracompact binaries”. 2018 Phys. Rev. D 98, 103024.

• D. Mukherjee, S. Caudill, R. Magee, C. Messick, S. Privitera, S. Sachdev, K. Blackburn, P. Brady, P. Brockill, K. Cannon, S. J. Chamberlin, D. Chatterjee, J. D. E. Creighton, H. Fong, P. Godwin, C. Hanna, S. Kapadia, R. N. Lang, T. G. F. Li, R. K. L. Lo, D. Meacher, A. Pace, L. Sadeghian, L. Tsukada, L. Wade, M. Wade, A. Weinstein, L. Xian. “The GstLAL template bank for spinning compact binary mergers in the second observation run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo”. 2018 Preprint arXiv:1812.05121.

• A. Viets, M. Wade, A. Urban, S. Kandhasamy, J. Betzwiser, D. Brown, J. Burguet-Castell, C. Cahillane, E. Goetz, E. Hall, K. Izumi, S. Karki, J. Kissel, G. Mendell, R. Savage, X. Siemens, D. Tuyenbayev, A. Weinstein. “Reconstructing the calibrated strain signal in the Advanced LIGO detectors”. 2018 Classical and Quantum Gravity 35 095015.

• C. Cahillane, J. Betzwiser, D. Brown, E. Goetz, E. D. Hall, K. Izumi, S. Kandhasamy, S. Karki, J. S. Kissel, G. Mendell, R. L. Savage, D. Tuyenbayev, A. Urban, A. Viets, M. Wade , A. J. Weinstein. “Calibration Uncertainty for Advanced LIGO’s First and Second Observing Runs.” Submitted to Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics.

• The LIGO Scientific Collaboration: B.P. Abbott, ... , M. Wade , et al. “Calibration of the Advanced LIGO detectors for the discovery of the binary black hole merger GW150914.” Phys. Rev. D 95 (2017) 062003.

• C. Messick, K. Blackburn, P. Brady, P. Brockill, K. Cannon, R. Cariou, S. Caudill, S. J. Chamberlin, J. D. E. Creighton, R. Everett, C. Hanna, D. Keppel, R. N. Lang, T. G. F. Li, D. Meacher, A. Nielsen, C. Pankow, S. Privitera, H. Qi, S. Sachdev, L. Sadeghian, L. Singer, E. G. Thomas, L. Wade, M. Wade , A. Weinstein, K. Wiesner. “Analysis Framework for the Prompt Discovery of Compact Binary Mergers in Gravitational-wave Data.” Phys. Rev. D 95 (2017) 042001.

• D. Tuyenbayev, S. Karki, J. Betzwieser, C. Cahillane, E. Goetz, K. Izumi, S. Kandhasamy, J. S. Kissel, G. Mendell, M. Wade , A. J. Weinstein, R. L. Savage. “Improving LIGO calibration accuracy by tracking and compensating for slow temporal variations.” Class. Quantum Grav. 34 (2016) 015002.

• S. Kark, D. Tuyenbayev, S. Kandhasamy, B. P. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, E. H. Anders, J. Berliner, J. Betzwieser, H. P. Daveloza, C. Cahillane, L. Canete, C. Conley, J. R. Gleason, E. Goetz, J. S. Kissel, K. Izumi, G. Mendell, V. Quetschke, M. Rodruck, S. Sachdev, T. Sadecki, P. B. Schwinberg, A. Sottile, M. Wade , A. J. Weinstein, M. West, R. L. Savage. “The Advanced LIGO Photon Calibrators.” Review of Scientific Instruments Vol. 87 Issue 11 (2016).

• M. Wade, J. Creighton, E. Ochsner, and A. Nielsen. “Advanced LIGO’s ability to detect apparent violations of the cosmic censorship conjecture and the no-hair theorem through compact binary coalescence detections.” Phys. Rev. D 88 (2013) 083002.

Contact Information

Office phone: (740) 427-5268

Email: wadem@kenyon.edu

Office: Hayes 210

Address: 201 N. College Road, Gambier, OH 43022

Kenyon Website