Maria Okounkova

Maria Okounkova is a tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles. She previously served as a Flatiron Research Fellow at the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. Her research focuses on gravitational wave astrophysics, general relativity, numerical relativity, and computational physics, with membership in the SXS numerical relativity collaboration.

Okounkova holds a PhD in Physics from Caltech (2019) and a BA in Physics (magna cum laude) from Princeton University (2014). Her teaching emphasizes inclusive education and increasing diversity in physics, astrophysics, and astronomy.

Her work involves advancing computational methods for simulating extreme spacetime dynamics, particularly in gravitational wave studies. She actively contributes to open-source tools and collaborates with the SXS team to model black hole mergers and test general relativity in strong-field regimes.