Elizabeth Kozlov
Graduate student in astrophysics
Elizabeth Kozlov is a doctoral student in astrophysics at Princeton University, where she studies the geometry of spacetime at its most extreme limits.
Kozlov's research centers on black holes. Her current work investigates how photon ring observables — the narrow, self-similar features formed by photons that orbit the black hole one or more times before reaching the observer — encode the geometry of their underlying emission surfaces in Kerr spacetime, characterizing the degeneracy structure of these observables under variations in inclination, emission physics, and magnetic field configuration, and identifying observable combinations that permit robust spin inference. She is also beginning work on primordial black holes as relics of the early universe whose abundance is sensitive to inflationary dynamics.
At Princeton, she was awarded the Centennial Fellowship in the Natural Sciences and Engineering and serves on the graduate leadership committee for her department. Her training includes graduate coursework in general relativity, quantum field theory, fluid dynamics, machine learning, and particle physics.
Kozlov graduated from Harvard cum laude with High Honors in Physics, receiving the Carol Davis Prize, the Herchel Smith Fellowship, and a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for her work in quantum mechanics. She has presented her research at an international conference in Tokyo, at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and in local colloquia. She served as president of the Harvard Society of Physics Students, wrote for the arts board of The Harvard Crimson, and served as a teaching fellow in chemistry, physics, and philosophy.
As an undergraduate, she compared photon ring diagnostics across the Kerr parameter space and developed Fourier-based methods for characterizing interstellar scattering. Earlier work includes precision calibration of superconducting magnets for the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the study of chaotic branched flow and wave-guiding in periodic potentials, and the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks for radionuclide capture at the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory.
Originally from Maine, Elizabeth enjoys long walks and hikes, reading, and spontaneous trips with friends.
Kozlov's primary project studies the geometry of photon rings in Kerr spacetime. Using ray-tracing through families of candidate emission surfaces, she constructs Jacobian sensitivity maps and applies Fisher information analysis across the spin–inclination parameter space to identify observable combinations that remain robust under variations in emission physics and magnetic field configuration. The goal is a set of geometric diagnostics that permit black hole spin inference under realistic astrophysical uncertainties.
A new collaboration extends her black hole work to the cosmological regime. Primordial black holes, if they exist, are relics of the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, and their abundance carries imprints of the small-scale primordial power spectrum that are inaccessible to the cosmic microwave background.
Previous WorkSagittarius A* Spin Measurement. Center for Astrophysics — Harvard & Smithsonian, 2024. Geometric framework for photon ring spin inference; Fourier-based diagnostics for interstellar scattering mitigation.
Dark Matter Detection. Harvard University, 2024. Hybrid anomaly-detection pipeline combining Isolation Forests and autoencoders applied to CoGeNT nuclear-recoil data.
Superconducting Magnet Calibration. CERN, 2023. Field characterization of 16 T Nb3Sn magnets for future Large Hadron Collider upgrades.
Metal–Organic Framework Design. Whitesides Lab, Harvard University, 2022. Synthesis and characterization of MOFs optimized for radionuclide adsorption; testing at the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory.
Chaotic Branched Flow. Heller Group, Harvard University, 2022. Wave-guiding structures and long-lived quantum channels in high Brillouin-zone superlattice systems.
Correspondence may be directed to the following.
Princeton University
Centennial Fellow
Ph.D. in Astrophysical Sciences (expected 2030)
Harvard University
B.A. in Physics, High Honors, cum laude (2025), GPA 3.9/4.0
Photon Ring Degeneracies and Analytic Accretion Models in Kerr Spacetimes, Princeton University, Aug 2025 – present
Spin Measurement of Sagittarius A* via Geometric Modeling and Fourier Analysis, Center for Astrophysics — Harvard & Smithsonian, May 2024 – Nov 2024
Enhancing Dark Matter Detection Using Hybrid Machine Learning Methods, Harvard University, May 2024 – Nov 2024
Precision Magnetic Field Characterization of Next-Generation LHC Superconducting Magnets, CERN, Jul 2023 – Aug 2023
Metal–Organic Framework Design for Radioactive Waste Adsorption, Whitesides Lab, Harvard University, Aug 2022 – Dec 2022
Chaotic Branched Flow and Wave-Guiding Structures in High Brillouin Zones, Heller Group, Harvard University, May 2022 – Sept 2022
Fellowships & Awards
Centennial Fellowship, Princeton University, 2025–2030
Carol Davis Prize, Harvard University, 2025
Herchel Smith Harvard Undergraduate Science Research Fellowship, 2024
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2024
Weissman International Internship Scholar, Harvard University, 2023
Program for Research in Science and Engineering (PRISE), Harvard University, 2023
Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2025: Gravitational Waves from Theory to Observation, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, July 2025
Teaching
Course Assistant, Physics 19: Introduction to Theoretical Physics, Harvard (Fall 2024)
Course Assistant, Physics 143A: Quantum Physics, Harvard (Spring 2024)
Teaching Assistant, Chem 160: Quantum Chemistry, Harvard (Fall 2023)
Course Assistant, Physics 137: Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Harvard (Spring 2023)
Adviser, Harvard Society of Physics Students, Harvard (2023–2025)
Quantum Field Theory; General Theory of Relativity (graduate); Quantum Chemistry (graduate); Particle Physics (graduate); Machine Learning in Astrophysics; Physical Mathematics (graduate); Quantum Chaos (graduate); Stratospheric Dynamics; Statistical Mechanics; Electrodynamics; Beyond the Standard Model.
SkillsPython, Mathematica, MATLAB; scientific computing, numerical simulations, machine learning, technical writing.
Languages: English (fluent), Russian (fluent), Ukrainian (intermediate).