Andy Durham, 2023 Houston High School graduate, spent the summer working with the Ahmed Group at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmological Research based at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) campus in Stanford, California.
Zeeshan Ahmed, Ph.D., leads The Ahmed Group research which focuses on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Durham’s internship under Ahmed has involved working with code for a multiplexing system for cryogenic CMB detectors which are used to determine the scale of the universe and age of the universe as well as dark matter candidates from gravitational lensing. The first use of the multiplexing system is being conducted at Simons Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile, South America.
Durham’s internship was supported by the Department of Physics at Stanford University where he is a rising sophomore. In addition to his studies at Stanford, Durham is a member of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band where he is the percussion section leader for the 2024-25 school year. Durham lives in Muwekma-Tah-Ruk, the Native American house on campus, and he participates in activities with Stanford’s Native American Cultural Center, the Stanford Quiz Bowl team and the Rural Club.