The Physics Department at the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) of the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute has hired a joint Physics Tenure-Track Faculty. Read more about the joint position here. 

Dr. Alice Pisani obtained her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Sorbonne University and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. After a few years working as a researcher in the south of France, she moved to Princeton University to continue her research. Her work focuses on the field of cosmology, tackling the big questions about our universe: What is our universe made of? How is the universe evolving? To answer these questions she analyzes the large, under-dense regions in the distribution of galaxies: cosmic voids. Much of her work has dealt with laying the basis of methods to extract information about our universe from voids. She recently contributed to obtaining the tightest-to-date constraints about the universe's matter and dark energy content from voids. She is a member of large missions aiming to map the universe over unprecedented volumes and with unprecedented depth: the NASA Nancy Roman Space Telescope, the Euclid ESA mission, and the Prime Focus Spectrograph project of the Subaru Telescope. 

During her career, Pisani has given many talks and lectures on cosmology and physics and on her research work with cosmic voids, as well as talks aimed to foster the participation of women and minorities in STEM. She has been a member of the Princeton University Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, and has won the France L'Oreal-Académie des Sciences-UNESCO prize for Women in Science. Dr. Pisani is very interested in developing active teaching methodologies that heavily rely on visualizations and encourages active participation from students. She has advised many students both in Europe and at Princeton University. In her spare time, she enjoys sports, cooking, reading, and spending time with her two children.  

"I am absolutely thrilled to join the amazing Cooper Union team! The Cooper Union's strong involvement in providing high-level education to an incredibly talented set of students matches my deepest goals. Joining the Albert Nerken School of Engineering is the perfect opportunity for me to contribute to the ambitious Cooper mission. I look forward to meeting with the colleagues and students in person for an exciting set of research projects to develop in upcoming years, and I thrive to contribute to the Cooper Union team’s excellence in research, teaching and service.”

Meet our new additional faculty hires here.