Maria Charisi

Maria Charisi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Washington State University (WSU). She holds a BSc in Physics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and a PhD in Astronomy from Columbia University. Prior to her current role, she was a NANOGrav Fellow at Caltech (2017-2020) and a VIDA Fellow at Vanderbilt University (2020-2023). She is a research fellow at the Institute of Astrophysics (Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas, University of Crete).

Her research focuses on supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs), multi-messenger astrophysics, and gravitational-wave astronomy. She leverages pulsar timing arrays (PTAs), electromagnetic time-domain surveys, and machine learning to study SMBHBs. She is a member of the NANOGrav Collaboration, International Pulsar Timing Array, LISA Consortium, and LSST AGN Science Collaboration.

Charisi has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2023) and has secured over $234,800 in grants, including telescope time on the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Las Cumbres Observatory. She has mentored numerous students, including graduate and undergraduate researchers, and has been recognized with awards such as the Hartle Award (2016) for best student presentation on Pulsar Timing Arrays.

Her teaching roles include instructor for the VIPER Summer School on PTA GW Astrophysics and guest lectures at UC Berkeley and Columbia University. She actively participates in mentoring programs, including Women Mentoring Women at Caltech and initiatives at Columbia University.