Dr. Cullen Blake

Biography

Cullen Blake is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Graduate Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He completed his Ph.D. in Astronomy at Harvard University in June 2009, following his A.M. in Astronomy in June 2006 and an A.B. with honors in Astrophysics from Princeton University in June 2003. His primary research interests lie in broad categories including the search for Earth-like planets orbiting low-mass stars, the structure and evolution of low-mass stars, and brown dwarfs. As an observational astronomer, he focuses on developing measurement techniques that enable the detection and characterization of Earth analogs orbiting low-mass stars, improving our understanding of stellar astrophysics, particularly at the bottom of the main sequence. He believes that robotic telescopes play an important role in modern astrophysics and has worked on optical and infrared instrumentation projects. Additionally, he utilizes photometric and spectroscopic data from massive variability surveys and is interested in synoptic surveys to identify transient astrophysical phenomena, which are powerful tools for studying low-mass stars.

Research Interests