Yanbei Chen , professor of physics at Caltech, has been named a 2018 Simons Investigator.These appointments are given annually to "support outstanding scientists in their most productive years, when they are establishing creative new research directions," according to the Simons Foundation , which grants the awards. Investigators receive $100,000 annually for five years.

Chen has made major contributions to understanding the quantum noise of laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors, including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory ( LIGO ), which arises from quantum fluctuations of light and matter. He has also made important contributions to gravitational-wave data-analysis strategies, and uses gravitational-wave observations to test the predictions of general relativity in strong gravity and to study the structures of black holes.

More information about the 2018 Simons Investigators is here .