RPI researcher awarded $1.5M grant for black hole project

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced that one of their researchers has been awarded $1.5 million as part of a multi-institution collaboration committed to developing models that track the formation of black holes. Dr. Christopher Carothers, professor and director of RPI’s Center for Computational Innovations, will serve as the project’s principal investigator.

Known as the Tachyon Project, the initiative seeks to detect signals of black hole formation in real-time using detailed modeling and world-class computing systems, which will offer further insight into stellar dynamics. To date, detection of these signals is incredibly challenging and pushes the capabilities of modern computing due to massive data loads.

The project will utilize information from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National lab computing facilities. RPI’s $1.5 million funding is a portion of a five-year, $7.5 million grant awarded to the Tachyon Project by the Department of Energy.