Current Group Members:

Assistant Professor Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine






Prof. Cyr-Racine joined UNM in 2019. Before coming to UNM, Cyr-Racine was a postdoctoral
fellow in the High-energy theory group of Harvard University , and before that,
a W.M. Keck Institute for Space Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and at the California Institute of Technology.
Postdoctoral Fellow David Camarena





David Camarena joined the Particle Cosmology research group at UNM in 2022 as a
Postdoctoral Fellow. He completed his PhD in the same year at the PPGCosmo program,
based at the Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo in Brazil, under the supervision of
Prof. Valerio Marra. His research primarily lies at the intersection of theoretical physics
and data analysis. He has experience in topics such as inhomogeneous cosmologies and
the Hubble tension. At UNM, his research focuses on exploring non-standard neutrino
interactions through the lens of cosmological data.
Graduate Student Kylar Greene





Kylar Greene embarked on his PhD journey in physics at UNM in 2019, delving into the
intriguing Hubble tension. His research curiosity has since expanded to encompass
cosmological tensions, dark sector model building, Beyond Standard Model (BSM)
physics, and cosmic inflation. Currently, he's enriching his research experience at
Fermilab in Chicago, courtesy of a SCGSR award, where he's exploring primordial
non-Gaussianities and potential interactions between the visible and dark sectors
beyond gravitational forces. Outside the office, Kylar's creativity finds expression
through synthesizer music, miniature model painting, and tabletop games.
Graduate Student Soumyodipta Karmakar


Soumyodipta Karmakar has been pursuing PhD in Physics at The University of New Mexico
since Fall 2021. His primary areas of interest in research are theoretical cosmology,
astrophysics, dark matter (DM), and cosmological simulations. Mr. Karmakar is investigating
the 'cold' and 'collisionless' nature of DM with the Milky Way (MW)-like satellite galaxies. He is
currently working on a semi-analytic forward model to simulate MW-like satellites, based on
the abundance of low-mass DM halos and their DM density distribution. The model he aims to
implement may be employed to forecast future DM constraints from the upcoming
observations on small astrophysical scales. He has the ability to work in a group and
has strong scientific skills in Python and High-Performance Computing. Mr. Karmakar
is also a LSST-DA Data Science Fellow. During his leisure time, he enjoys cooking, listening to
Indian classical music, volunteering for social activities, and playing various types of sports.
Graduate Student John Houghteling





John Houghteling came to UNM in 2023 to begin his PhD in physics under Prof. Cyr-Racine.
His broad interests lie in using computational methods to investigate the cosmological
impact of novel ideas in particle physics, with new interactions in the neutrino sector currently
being the focus of his research. Before coming to Albuquerque, John earned bachelor’s
degrees in Physics and Mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin. In addition
to his academic pursuits, John enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and tabletop roleplaying games.
Graduate Student Xiaoxuan Li





Xiaoxuan (Shane) Li is a graduate student working primarily in Rouzbeh Allahverdi's group,
but she interact frequently with our group. We share many research interests. Shane is
currently working on gravitational wave produced during cosmological phase transitions.
Undergraduate Student Graham Byrd


Undergraduate Student Fernando Garcia





Fernando Garcia is in his fourth year as an undergraduate student at UNM. His interests
lie in the intersection between particle physics and cosmology, both at a fundamental
level and a computational level. Outside of class and research time, he enjoys playing
guitar (both electric and acoustic), reading books, and photography. He shares many of
his hobbies and physics/mathematics related content through his  website.

Undergraduate Student Benicio Gutierez



Past Group Members:


Dr. Birendra Dhanasingham                            



Birendra started at UNM in 2018 and joined Cyr-Racine's group in Fall 2019. Before that, he
earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Right
now, he is exploring dark matter microphysics using strong gravitational lensing. His
research interests  cover understanding dark matter through astrophysical observables,
studying black holes, applying  machine learning methods to astrophysics and cosmology,
and exploring complex adaptive systems. Besides research, he is a bookworm, melophile,
and gym rat. He obtained his PhD from UNM in May 2024. Dr. Dhanasingham is now a
postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota.
Ethan Sloan





Ethan Sloan did a project on cosmological neutrinos and their initial conditions.
Ethan is now doing an honors thesis with UNM Prof. David Dunlap working in
condensed matter physics.
Max Schmidt





Max Schmidt was on exchange at the University of New Mexico during the 2023-2024
academic year. His primary institution was the University of Heidelberg. His education
has sparked an ongoing interest in theoretical astrophysics, which led him to joining
Cyr-Racine's Research Group in Fall of 2023. He did a project on the effects of
Degeneracy on the Gravothermal Collapse of Self-Interacting Dark Matter
Halos. In his free time he loves to travel, hike, and to watch a good movie.