Leo Tsukada

"Seiji Kawamura, who is currently a professor in Nagoya University, was a major contributor in the early phase of LIGO. He gave me a hands-on lecture on gravitational wave interferometry when I was a junior student. He is such a great scientific communicator that my interest shifted towards gravitational wave astronomy, and I was able to join the LIGO summer research program through his recommendation. That was when my life with LIGO started. However, it is always fun to use my brain in a different way from just doing my LIGO work. I like to work out and do different lifts such as bench press. I usually go to the gym on campus when I get tired of work, and nominally spend 1.5 hours there before going back to work being refreshed. It is not just releasing my energy but more like thinking logically to make it as efficient as possible. It is important to care about physics when lifting up a barbell and physiology/nutrition when building up muscle."

Leo Tsukada is a graduate student at The University of Tokyo. He develops algorithms for detecting individual gravitational waves as well as the theorized "stochastic background" created from lots of gravitational waves adding together. His favorite contribution to the field so far is a filter he helped develop that detected the first binary neutron star merger GW170817. When Leo isn't working on his science or social distancing, he likes to host "watch parties." One of his favorite movies to screen is Interstellar, because it gives him an opportunity to teach people about black holes and general relativity. If he could eat one dish while watching Interstellar, it would be a hot bowl of ramen.