{"id":155254,"date":"2026-04-13T10:12:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=155254"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:12:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:12:49","slug":"uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM physics student researches the cosmos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why would a young astronomer from India travel some 8,000 miles around the world to pursue his Ph.D. in physics? Simple. Pratyusava Baral wanted to study with the UW-Milwaukee physicists who deciphered the data for the first-ever detection of gravitational waves.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Baral came to UWM in 2021 after earning his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in physics at Presidency University in Kolkata, India. His journey has been well worth it, and he\u2019s earned the Physics and Astronomy Department\u2019s Nicholas J. Papastamatiou Award, which recognizes an outstanding graduate student.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThis award is a tremendous honor,\u201d says Baral, whose work on algorithms helped detect gravitational waves in the recently concluded fourth observational run of the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) Scientific Collaboration, an international consortium of dozens of institutions and hundreds of researchers. \u201cI am humbled and proud to be selected for this award by my faculty mentors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Baral will complete his doctorate in June and begin a postdoctoral fellowship in September at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">UWM\u2019s Leonard E. Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics has attracted top graduate students for decades. The center\u2019s reputation grew after its significant role in the first-ever detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in 2015.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The discovery was celebrated by scientists around the world, and it confirmed a prediction made a century prior by none other than Albert Einstein. UWM\u2019s LIGO team provided data interpretation expertise that was crucial to the discovery, which earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supporting students like Baral, who dream of building upon Einstein\u2019s work, is the goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/give.uwmfoundation.org\/414-for-uwm-giving-days-2026\">414 for UWM Giving Days<\/a>. And on April 13-14, when 15 donors make a gift to the Nicolas Papastamatiou Award or the Physics General Fund, an additional $3,000 in challenge funding will be unlocked. It\u2019s one more way to help UWM students keep reaching for the stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3151,"featured_media":155255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[139],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[282,338],"uwmnews-feed":[167,158,153,161],"class_list":["post-155254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-science-technology","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-physics","related-coverage-research","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-graduate","uwmnews-feed-hard-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UWM physics student researches the cosmos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UWM physics student researches the cosmos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T15:12:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/04\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Schumacher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Schumacher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Schumacher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3\"},\"headline\":\"UWM physics student researches the cosmos\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-13T15:12:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":320,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM physics student researches the cosmos\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-13T15:12:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Pratyusava Baral won the Physics and Astronomy Department\u2019s Nicholas J. Papastamatiou Award, which recognizes an outstanding graduate student. He\u2019s set to complete his doctorate in June.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UWM physics student researches the cosmos\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM REPORT\",\"description\":\"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/UWMNews\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3\",\"name\":\"John Schumacher\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/schuma63uwm-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UWM physics student researches the cosmos","description":"International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UWM physics student researches the cosmos","og_description":"International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves.","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/","og_site_name":"UWM REPORT","article_published_time":"2026-04-13T15:12:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/04\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Schumacher","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UWMNews","twitter_site":"@UWMNews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Schumacher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/"},"author":{"name":"John Schumacher","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3"},"headline":"UWM physics student researches the cosmos","datePublished":"2026-04-13T15:12:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/"},"wordCount":320,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/04\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/","name":"UWM physics student researches the cosmos","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/04\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-13T15:12:49+00:00","description":"International student Pratyusava Baral was drawn to UWM to work with astronomers who helped detect gravitational waves.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/04\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/04\/Pratyusava-Baral750x500.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"Pratyusava Baral won the Physics and Astronomy Department\u2019s Nicholas J. Papastamatiou Award, which recognizes an outstanding graduate student. He\u2019s set to complete his doctorate in June."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-physics-student-researches-the-cosmos\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UWM physics student researches the cosmos"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","name":"UWM REPORT","description":"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/UWMNews"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841d2257605f52c941db91faacb81bc3","name":"John Schumacher","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/schuma63uwm-edu\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 19:48:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155256,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155254\/revisions\/155256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155254"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=155254"},{"taxonomy":"display_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_categories?post=155254"},{"taxonomy":"related-coverage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-coverage?post=155254"},{"taxonomy":"uwmnews-feed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uwmnews-feed?post=155254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}