About Me

I am an Assistant Professor of Physics at William Jewell College in Liberty, MO. Previously, I was a Research Associate (postdoc) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Physics (advisor: Keith Bechtol) and a PhD student at the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics (advisor: Josh Frieman). I majored in Physics and Astronomy at Carleton College in Northfield, MN (advisor: Cindy Blaha).

I am a cosmologist, and understanding the biggest (literally and figuratively) questions about the Universe is what drives me: What is the history of the Universe? What is it made of? How does it work? What will it look like in the future?

Specifically, my research has primarily been in observational cosmology, measuring large-scale structure in a number of different ways. My primary research since 2012 has been with the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Recently I have been interested in improving redshift measurements of photometric surveys to aid large-scale structure and other analyses. In addition to working on science analysis with DES, I coordinate DES Education and Public Outreach efforts. You can find our work at the DES website, Twitter page , Facebook page , and Instagram page. 

Outside of science, my interests include sports, card and board games, and science fiction.

(Photo taken at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile)

You can also read my profile from the Dark Energy Survey 'Scientist of the Week'. https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/scientistoftheweek/ross-cawthon/

An article I wrote for the public about my dark energy and dark matter research: https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/darchive/finding-dark-matter-how-mapping-light-tells-us-about-the-dark/