Manel Errando

Manel Errando is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds a PhD from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and specializes in high-energy astrophysics, focusing on black holes, active galactic nuclei, and relativistic jets observed via gamma-ray and X-ray telescopes. His research also involves developing space instrumentation, including X-ray optics and gamma-ray detectors for next-generation observatories. Errando has been funded by NASA through the Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship and has received the ArtSci Excellence in Teaching Award.

Research Interests:

• High-energy astrophysics: Studying cosmic particle accelerators like blazar jets and gamma-ray binaries using X-ray and gamma-ray data.
• Space instrumentation: Developing compact gamma-ray spectrometers for CubeSats and electroactive polymer actuators for X-ray mirrors.
• Data analysis: Applying machine learning and time-series methods to astrophysics and interdisciplinary problems.

Awards:

• 2019 ArtSci Council Excellence in Teaching Award
• 2018 Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship (NASA)
• 2009 Outstanding PhD Thesis Prize

Advising & Grants:

• Mentors undergraduate and graduate students (e.g., Zach, Cassie, Charlie Fallon, Grace Mead) in instrumentation and observational astrophysics.
• Funded by NASA grants for CubeSat spectrometer development and X-ray mirror actuator research.

Labs/Teams: Leads projects in the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, collaborating on IXPE, VERITAS, and Swift satellite data analysis.