CCAPP is proud to announce Gokul Prem Srinivasaragavan (U. Maryland) and Vedant Chandra (Harvard) as the winners of the 2025 Price Prize in Cosmology and Astrophysics!          

Srinivasaragavan’s research focuses on understanding the most energetic and luminous endpoints of massive stars' lives. He does this by utilizing space and ground-based telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum to observe, analyze, and characterize the spectacular explosions associated with the deaths of these stars. Gokul has extensive experience in studying core-collapse supernovae, long gamma-ray bursts, and the continuum of astrophysical transients that bridge the gap between these two explosive phenomena. Through his work, he has made significant progress towards illuminating long-standing open questions in this continuum, including understanding the relationship between supernova emission and central engine activity in long gamma-ray bursts, determining why only some massive stars can produce long gamma-ray bursts, and uncovering the progenitors for understudied classes of transients such as orphan afterglows and fast X-ray transients.

Chandra’s research bridges observations, simulations, and instrumentation to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Milky Way. He has conducted spectroscopic surveys to illuminate the outermost regions of the galactic halo, mapping its global dynamics and uncovering stellar imprints of both ancient and ongoing mergers. He is a leading member of the Via Project, developing new multi-object spectrographs to investigate the fundamental nature of dark matter and the physics of galaxy formation.

About the Prize

The Dr. Pliny A. and Margaret H. Price Prize recognizes research excellence and exceptional promise in areas related to CCAPP initiatives. Two recipients are selected annually by the CCAPP Science Board based on a review of their research in the areas of cosmology and astroparticle physics. CCAPP hosts Prize recipients for a week during which they give a Price Prize seminar on their research, establish long-term collaborative relationships, and receive a $2,000 honorarium.

Together, Steve Price and his wife Jill Levy created and endowed the Dr. Pliny A. and Margaret H. Price Prize, with generous gifts in honor of Steve's parents, beginning in 2009.