Gabi Wenzel

Gabi Wenzel is an experimental physicist specializing in astrochemistry and molecular spectroscopy. She earned her PhD in laboratory astrophysics at the Institute for Astrophysics and Planetology Research (IRAP) in Toulouse, France, where she studied the interaction of cosmic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with ultraviolet and infrared light, focusing on their relaxation processes in the gas phase. Her current work evolves around laboratory rotational spectroscopy of PAHs in the McGuire group at MIT and the McCarthy group at the CfA. Gabi constructed a compact CP-FTMW spectrometer enabling broadband rotational spectroscopy of astrochemical species at MIT and uses high-resolution cavity-enhanced FTMW spectroscopy at the CfA to complement her research. She is passionate about advancing the detection of molecules, particularly PAHs, in space using radio telescopes such as the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia.

PhD in Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Toulouse, France MSc in Physics, University of Münster, Germany BSc in Physics, University of Münster, Germany