Jessica Clayton, 2009-2011 Bradley Fellow

Jessica Clayton, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM), has been named a 2009-2011 Bradley Fellow. This is the third year UWM has been included in the prestigious Bradley Fellowship Program for graduate and postgraduate students.

The purpose of this long-standing national program is to support the work of a select group of distinguished professors at universities across the country by providing funds for their most gifted graduate students and postgraduate fellows. The foundation’s grant at UWM supports physics students who are chosen by Leonard Parker, UWM distinguished professor emeritus of physics and director emeritus of the Center for Gravitation and Cosmology.

Clayton was chosen by Parker in consultation with Patrick Brady, professor of physics and current center director, and other center researchers.

In recent years, the program has supported the work of distinguished professors at universities such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Stanford and UW–Madison.

Clayton earned a B.A. in physics and mathematics magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in physics from UW–Madison. Clayton has worked on the detection of high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos, and now is working on the detection of gravitational waves. She will be a researcher in the center’s LIGO group.

The LIGO project is a national effort to detect, for the first time, gravitational waves from astrophysical and cosmological sources. Detection of gravitational waves would open a new window on the most energetic processes in the universe.

“I am very grateful to the Bradley Foundation for their support,” Clayton said. “It’s exciting to be part of the investigations into some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. We have much to learn as we study the true nature of gravity.”

Parker is a pioneer in the study of the early universe, who discovered how quantum processes in the early universe created particles and other quantum excitations that were important in shaping the universe we now observe. The significance of his work is verified by the National Science Foundation, which began funding Parker’s research in 1969.

“We at UWM are honored to be chosen as participants in the Bradley Program,” Parker said. “Jessica’s outstanding experience and intelligence make her an excellent choice as the next Bradley Fellow.”

Begun in 1986, the Bradley Fellowship program states it “helps fulfill two basic prerequisites for liberal education – good teaching and good curriculum – by enabling colleges and universities to offer students in the advanced stages of graduate work the opportunity to pursue serious studies with excellent teachers.”

The last fellowship, UWM’s first, was awarded to Matthew Glenz, who recently had a paper published in the journal Physical Review.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is a private grant-making institution established in 1985. It supports programs and studies to improve the life of a community through increasing cultural and educational opportunities, economic development, and effective and humane social and health services.