Chloe Richards joined Kenyon's Department of Physics in 2026 as the Kenyon-Teacher Scholar Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor. Her research combines numerical relativity and high-performance computing to investigate open questions in gravity and cosmology where gravity is strongly nonlinear.

Richards develops numerical relativity frameworks that solve Einstein's equations to simulate black holes, gravitational waves, and the early universe. Her work explores how the nonlinear nature of gravity can reveal new insights into fundamental physics and cosmology.

Prior to joining Kenyon, Richards earned her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she used numerical simulations to study how surrounding fields affect black hole evolution and may leave an observable imprint on gravitational waves produced during black hole mergers.

Areas of Expertise

Numerical relativity, black holes, cosmology

Education

2026 — Doctor of Philosophy from Univ Illnois Up Urbn

2021 — Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College

Courses Recently Taught

Gravity is at once the most familiar and most mysterious of the basic forces of nature. It shapes the formation, structure and motion of stars, galaxies, and the cosmos itself. Also, because gravity affects everything, it enables us to investigate parts of the universe that are otherwise invisible to us. This course explores the role of gravity in a few vibrant areas of contemporary astrophysics: the search for planets beyond our solar system, the discovery of giant black holes in the nuclei of galaxies, the generation and detection of gravitational waves, and the evidence for dark matter and dark energy in our universe. In addition to the scheduled class lectures and discussions, students are required to meet a few times during the semester for evening laboratories. This course does not count toward the physics major. No prerequisite.

As modern computers become more capable, a new mode of investigation is emerging in all science disciplines, using computers to model the natural world and solving model equations numerically rather than analytically. Thus, computational physics is assuming co-equal status with theoretical and experimental physics as a way to explore physical systems. This course introduces students to a variety of computational methods, which could include the methods of computational physics, numerical integration, numerical solutions of differential equations, Monte Carlo techniques, and discrete Fourier transforms. Students learn to implement these techniques in the computer language C, a widely used high-level programming language in computational physics. For some techniques, students may also learn implementations in the computer language Python. In addition, the course expands students' capabilities in using a symbolic algebra program (Mathematica) to aid in theoretical analysis and in scientific visualization. This course is required for the physics major. Prerequisite: PHYS 240 and MATH 112 or equivalent. Offered every spring.