Alexander Criswell

PhD in Astrophysics

Professional Bio

Alexander works in Dr. Vuk Mandic’s group, exploring the gravitational wave universe. Currently, his research focuses on two major areas. The first is building a Bayesian analysis pipeline to search for stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds with the future spaceborne gravitational wave detector, LISA. The second is using an ensemble analysis of binary neutron star post-merger gravitational wave emission to constrain the neutron star equation of state and improve our understanding of the nature of matter at extreme pressures and densities. He is highly interested in the new possibilities presented by multi-messenger approaches to astronomy, and is pursuing the DSMMA minor as a step towards a future career in this up-and-coming field of research.

Personal Bio

Alexander is a 2^nd year PhD student at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics. He grew up in Mahtomedi, MN before attending Iowa State University in Ames, IA for his B.S. in Physics. Outside of academia, Alexander is a talented actor and vocalist, performing in numerous productions during his undergraduate career and joining the Minneapolis community theatre scene since moving back to the cities. In his free time, he enjoys drawing, cooking, and playing tabletop roleplaying games with his friends. He is a passionate advocate for social justice and community outreach, and is determined to use his career to make academia a safer, more accessible, and more inclusive space for all.