Stony Brook University has announced that Professor Neelima Sehgal has been named a 2025 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). The APS Fellowship is awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the field of physics through research, publication, innovative applications, teaching, and service within the society.
“I am deeply grateful for this recognition from my APS colleagues, and delighted to join the distinguished group of Stony Brook Physics and Astronomy faculty who are APS fellows,” said Sehgal, professor of Physics and Astronomy in Stony Brook’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Sehgal specializes in theoretical and observational cosmology. Her research focuses on understanding key aspects of the Universe such as dark matter, dark energy, its origins, and its particle composition. She primarily uses data from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which represents light dating back nearly 14 billion years. For about twenty years, Sehgal worked with data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile.
Currently, Sehgal is involved with the Simons Observatory, which is expected to collect data for another ten years. She also serves as Principal Investigator for the CMB-HD experiment, a proposed high-resolution CMB observatory. This project aims to map dark matter on small scales, explore the Universe’s origins, and clarify its thermal particle content.
“My sincere congratulations to Professor Neelima Sehgal on this truly significant achievement,” said David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her pioneering work on a cosmic microwave background observatory is pivotal in expanding our understanding of the fundamental physics of the Universe. We are fortunate and proud to have such an exceptional theoretical and observational cosmologist working to advance our university and the frontiers of science.”