Rate My Professor Michael Coughlin

Michael Coughlin is an Associate Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, recently promoted with tenure. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 2016, an A.M. in Physics from Harvard University in 2015, an M.Phil. in Astronomy from the University of Cambridge in 2013, and a B.A. in Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics from Carleton College in 2012. Coughlin joined the University of Minnesota as Assistant Professor in January 2020, following a David and Ellen Lee Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology from 2017 to 2019 and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University from 2016 to 2017. Earlier, as a Churchill Scholar at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, he conducted parameter estimation of gravitational wave data for compact binary coalescences.

Coughlin's research focuses on multi-messenger astronomy, studying the Universe through gravitational waves and electromagnetic signals from events like binary neutron star and black hole coalescences. He works with gravitational-wave detectors such as LIGO and Virgo, optical telescopes including the Zwicky Transient Facility to identify electromagnetic counterparts, and anticipates advancements from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. His contributions include developing gravitational-wave detection algorithms, calibration systems for LSST, and software for alert brokers like Babamul for LSST data. Coughlin is a co-author on seminal papers such as "GWTC-1: a gravitational-wave transient catalog of compact binary mergers observed by LIGO and Virgo during the first and second observing runs" (2019), "Gravitational waves and gamma-rays from a binary neutron star merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A" (2017), and "GW170817: Measurements of neutron star radii and equation of state" (2018). He was awarded the 2024 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship for research on astrophysical explosions from merging neutron stars and black holes, participated in a Scialog Award-winning team for early LSST research, and has delivered public lectures including "Catching Some Gravitational Waves."