MDPI Dark Matter Day 2025 Webinar | Session 1
Meet Our Speakers
Prof. Dr. Bhupal Dev
Washington University in St. Louis, USA;
Dev has broad research interests across the fields of High-Energy Physics, Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology. He obtained his PhD from the University of Maryland in 2012, later undertaking postdoctoral work at the University of Manchester, Technical University of Munich and Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics, before joining Washington University in 2016, where he is now an Associate Professor of Physics. He is a recipient of the Fermilab Intensity Frontier Fellowship and the Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers.
Dr. Paola Marziani
National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Astronomical Observatory of Padua, Italy;
Paola Marziani obtained her Ph.D. in Astrophysics at SISSA in 1991, with a thesis on Accretion Flows in Active Galaxies, under the supervision of Prof. D. W. Sciama. After postdoctoral experiences in the USA, Mexico and Italy, she joined the research staff of the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova in December 1995, where she is presently Senior Researcher. Her research interests include quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), photoionization and dynamical modeling of gaseous regions producing emission lines in a variety of contexts (from emission line stars to the most powerful quasars), small- and large-scale structures in the Universe, and observational cosmology.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Bonilla Rivera
Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil;
Alexander Bonilla Rivera has a B.Sc. in Physics from the National Pedagogical University (UPN) in Bogotá, Colombia; an M.Sc. in Astrophysics from the University of Valparaiso (UV) in Chile and Ph.D. in Physics from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) in Brazil. He has worked mainly in the field of gravitation, cosmology and particle astrophysics, where he has tested cosmological models of dark matter/energy (including modified gravity) against different observational tests such as CMB, SNIa, LSS and SZ–X-ray, among others. His current work focuses on fundamental gravitational wave physics, exploring mergers of compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes from astrophysical scales to SMBHs and stochastic signals produced in the early Universe. From a particle physics perspective, he has worked with neutrinos, gravitons and possible dark matter candidates, covering a broad spectrum from ULDMs to primordial black holes. He is a member of international collaborations such as the LISA consortium, where he also works on signal processing with machine learning.
Dr. Mehrab Momennia
Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico;
Dr. Mehrab Momennia received his PhD in astrophysics and cosmology from Shiraz University in 2021 and has published 34 research articles to date. He spent four years as a postdoc at Benemérita Universidad and Universidad Michoacana in Mexico. He is an editorial board member for the international journals Universe, Axioms, and Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.
Dr. Aleksandr Mosenkov
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA;
Dr. Aleksandr Mosenkov is an astronomer specializing in galaxy formation and evolution. He graduated with honors from Saint Petersburg State University, Russia, and earned his Ph.D. degree in 2013 from the same university. Since beginning his professional career in 2008, Dr. Mosenkov has held research positions at the Central (Pulkovo) Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He also conducted postdoctoral research at Ghent University, Belgium, and held part-time appointments at Saint Petersburg State University and Ton Duc Thang University in Vietnam. His research focuses on the structural properties and evolution of galaxies, galaxy scaling relations, panchromatic modeling of galaxies with complex interstellar media, and the study of the low-surface-brightness universe. Dr. Mosenkov has authored or co-authored over 140 scientific works, including 90 peer-reviewed papers in leading astronomical journals, and has presented his research at more than 60 international conferences.
Sponsors and Partners
Organizer
MDPI Dark Matter Day Webinar 2025 Session 1
MDPI is excited to announce a special webinar in celebration of Dark Matter Day on 31 October 2025. This event will explore the mystery of dark matter, which makes up 26.8% of the universe's mass and energy, yet remains largely unexplained. Along with dark energy, which drives the universe’s expansion, dark matter plays a crucial role in the cosmos. Join us as we explore the dark sector of the universe and discover how these insights could reshape our understanding of the cosmos’ structure and history.
Date: 31 October 2025
Time: 2:30 am CET | 9:30 am CST Asia
Webinar ID: 895 6551 7703
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
In this section, you will find the recordings of this webinar to watch, re-watch and share with your colleagues!