Kathryn Zurek

Kathryn Zurek is the Louis E. Nohl Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Physics division at CalTech - California Institute of Technology, a position she has held since 2025, following her appointment as Professor of Theoretical Physics in 2019. She earned a B.S. in Physics summa cum laude from Bethel University in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Washington in 2006, where her dissertation focused on neutrino astrophysics and cosmology under advisor David B. Kaplan. During her doctoral studies, Zurek developed the "Hidden Valley" models, which introduced new avenues for detecting low-mass hidden sectors at colliders such as the LHC. These models laid the groundwork for her subsequent research on dark matter. Her career includes postdoctoral positions at the Wisconsin Phenomenology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2006-2008), and as David Schramm Fellow at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (2008-2009). She then served as Assistant Professor (2009-2012) and Associate Professor (2013-2014) in the Department of Physics at the University of Michigan, with a concurrent membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2012-2013). From 2014 to 2019, she was Exceptional PI at UC Berkeley (2014-2017) and Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, along with a Scientific Associateship at CERN in 2018.

Zurek's research specializes in high energy theory, particle astrophysics, and cosmology, with a focus on fundamental questions about the Universe's building blocks, including dark matter and the quantum nature of gravity. She pioneered theories of Asymmetric Dark Matter and hidden sector dark matter, establishing models that connect collider physics (including the Higgs boson), direct detection anomalies, and astrophysical phenomena in neutron stars and white dwarfs. Her work proposes innovative detection strategies for light dark matter using quantum materials and terrestrial probes, as well as signatures of quantum gravity in interferometers and holographic theories. Notable publications include "Dark Matter Candidates of a Very Low Mass" in Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Physics (2024), "Asymmetric Dark Matter: Theories, Signatures and Constraints" in Physics Reports (2014), "Asymmetric Dark Matter" in Physical Review D (2009), and "Superconducting Detectors for Super Light Dark Matter" in Physical Review Letters (2016). Zurek received the Simons Investigator Award in 2020 and was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2017. Her contributions have profoundly shaped modern searches for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Professional Email: kzurek@caltech.edu