CNS Physicist Andrea Thamm Recognized with Sloan Research Fellowship
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Andrea Thamm, a professor in the College of Natural Sciences (CNS)'s Department of Physics, has won a 2026 Sloan Research Fellowship—only the 19th UMass professor to win the award in its 71-year history.
“It is wonderful news, though not surprising, to see Andrea Thamm recognized with a Sloan Fellowship,” says Andrea Pocar, professor of physics at CNS and the department’s head. “Andrea joined the physics department in 2023, when we were fortunate to attract her to UMass Amherst from her faculty position in Melbourne, Australia.”
Thamm specializes in physics beyond the Standard Model—think such mysteries as dark matter, neutrino masses, and the baryon asymmetry of the universe. Her research began at one of the preeminent experiments for cutting-edge physics, the Large Hadron Collider. This is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator and the place where the Higgs Boson was discovered, just when Thamm started her graduate studies at CERN.
“But in the past five years, I’ve also begun thinking more about astrophysics, black holes, and cosmic particles as natural experiments that can help us understand the fundamental particles of nature,” says Thamm.
Her research, including a new paper co-authored with CNS physicist Michael Baker, has increasingly looked to a theoretical kind of black hole, called a “primordial black hole,” which may account for all the dark matter in the universe.
And just what is dark matter? No one really knows. “In physics, we like the word dark,” says Thamm. “It’s unknown because we can’t see it. We can only see things that interact with particles that we already know about, like photons, electrons, quarks, etc. Dark matter doesn’t seem to interact with other known particles, which is what makes it dark. Perhaps there’s even more than one dark matter particle. Perhaps there’s a whole ‘dark sector’ including dark photons and dark electrons.”
Pocar adds that “currently, large experiments at high-energy particle colliders aren’t yielding concrete signatures of ‘new physics” (i.e., not explained by the Standard Model of particle physics). At the same time, however, astrophysical and cosmological observations indicate that about 80% of the matter in the universe is ‘dark,’ and that almost 70% of the energy density of the universe is made of ‘dark energy,’ with regular and dark matter accounting for the remaining 30% or so. Such a lack of understanding of the fundamental workings of phenomena characterized by strong astrophysical and cosmological evidence is best served by scientists like Andrea who can keenly understand experimental hints and place them in the context of the current ‘big questions’ in particle physics relating to reconciling quantum physics with Einstein’s theory of relativity.”
A Sloan Research Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards available to young researchers, in part because so many past Fellows have gone on to become distinguished figures in science, including winners of the Nobel Prize and National Medal of Science.
“The Sloan Research Fellows are among the most promising early-career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, already driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines,” says Stacie Bloom, president and chief executive officer of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “We look forward to seeing how these exceptional scholars continue to unlock new scientific advancements, redefine their fields and foster the wellbeing and knowledge of all.”
Thamm says that the fellowship “further validates the research I’ve conducted and shows that the field values it. Researchers don’t necessarily get much positive feedback—science works on criticism and picking other people’s work apart—so every researcher has to believe in their own work. It’s thrilling when the field as a whole lets you know your work is making a valuable contribution.”
This story was originally published by the UMass News Office.