John Whelan

John Whelan is a Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the School of Mathematical Sciences within the College of Science. He serves as a PI for the RIT group in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and is Co-Chair of both the Continuous Waves Observational Group and the Elections and Membership Committee. His academic journey includes a BA in Astronomy (Summa Cum Laude) from Cornell University (1991) and a PhD in Physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1996).

• Education
  • 1980-1987: Secondary, Poughkeepsie Day School (HS Degree)
  • 1987-1991: BA in Astronomy, Cornell University
  • 1991-1996: PhD in Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Whelan specializes in Gravitational Wave Data Analysis, Bayesian Inference, and Computational Relativity. His research focuses on continuous gravitational wave searches (e.g., from Scorpius X-1), stochastic backgrounds, and compact binary coalescence. Recent publications (2025-2024) address LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data analysis, supernova gravitational wave emission, and dark matter detection using gravitational wave observatories.

His scientific awards include induction into RIT's PI Millionaires for securing over $1 million in research funding. He mentors students in gravitational wave astrophysics and statistical signal processing, including Yuanhao Zhang, Gabriel Phelan, and Anthony Castiglia. Whelan contributes to open science through the Gravitational-Wave Open Science Center and has pioneered Jupyter Notebook integration in graduate statistics education.