Associate professor of physics Thomas Osburn (SUNY Geneseo photo/Matt Burkhartt)
Thomas Osburn, associate professor of physics, has won a highly competitive 2025–26 award to Ireland and will spend an academic year at University College Dublin (UCD). Osburn’s grant brings to 37 the number of Fulbright or Fulbright-Hayes awards Geneseo faculty members have received.
The Fulbright Foundation annually offers 400+ awards in more than 130 countries for college and university faculty, artists, and professionals from a wide range of fields to teach, conduct research, and carry out professional projects around the world.
Osburn will join a UCD research group to investigate and develop methods to accurately model gravitational waves (GWs) that will be observed by LISA, a future technology space mission between European and US space agencies. The goal is to accurately model a new class of binary black hole systems.
“GWs are astronomical signals emitted during the inspiral and merger of compact binary systems, which consist of two black holes, two neutron stars, or one of each,” Osburn says. “One type of compact binary system is especially valuable for this proposal’s scientific merit: extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs), which consist of a stellar-mass compact object orbiting a supermassive black hole.”
This project offers Osburn a unique opportunity to develop skills for teaching advanced classes at the intersection of physics and mathematics. He’ll have the opportunity to instruct UCD research students working on the project as he learns about pedagogical styles used internationally.
“Much of the Fulbright project involves collaborating with researchers at University College Dublin to implement cutting-edge predictive models for this type of astronomical signal,” says Osburn. “This partnership will provide opportunities for Geneseo student researchers to participate in cutting-edge research upon my return.”
In 2023, Osburn won a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study gravitational waves, tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime that are emitted by massive objects when they accelerate. The $188,470 award supports research expenses, including student researchers, travel for students and faculty to scientific meetings, and computational resources and equipment.
The 2026–27 competition is open to faculty members and other professionals. For more information and assistance with applications, contact Fulbright liaison Michael Mills, director of National Fellowships and Scholarships, at millsm@geneseo.edu.
Read more about Osburn’s gravitational wave research.
—Michael Mills