Elena Koptieva

Elena Koptieva
Elena Koptieva no pronouns/use only name

Primary Research Area

  • Astrophysics / Relativity / Cosmology
Visiting Research Scientist
290P Loomis Laboratory

For More Information

Education

  • PhD, Theoretical physics, Dnipro National University, 2006

Biography

Born in Ukraine and raised along the stunning northern coast of Lake Baikal in Siberia, I grew up inspired by nature and the arts, cultivating a love for painting, literature, and theater. My interest in the universe took me back to Ukraine, where I started studying gravitational physics, and later to the Czech Republic, where I continued my research in black holes and cosmology. I am now a Visiting Research Specialist in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, supported by the Illinois Scholars at Risk (ISAR) Program. My work focuses on exact solutions in general relativity. This includes developing models for black holes embedded in cosmological media (cosmological black holes), studying the interplay between cosmological expansion and local gravity, perturbations of cosmological black holes, and superradiance. Spanning 14,000 kilometers across the globe, my life's path may not yet rival cosmological scales—but the adventure is far from over!

Academic Positions

  • Visiting Research Scientist, Physics Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2022-2023
  • Research scientist, Institute of Physics and Research Centre of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava, Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic, 2016-2022
  • Research scientist, Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, RU, 2015-2017
  • Associate Professor, Theoretical Physics Department, Dnipro National University, UA, 2006-2015
  • Teaching Assistant, Physics Department, National Mining University, UA, 2003-2006

Other Professional Employment

  • Patent Expert, Center of Technology Commercialization, Dnipro, UA, 2001-2003

Research Interests

  • General relativity, gravitation, cosmology, exact solutions of Einstein equations, inhomogeneous cosmological models, cosmological black holes

Selected Articles in Journals

Other Scholarly Activities

  • Co-organizer and chairwoman of the Physics and Mathematics Interdisciplinary Seminar, Dnipro, Ukraine, 2009-2012

Professional Societies

  • ICASU member, 2023-present

Recent Courses Taught

  • PHYS 211 - University Physics: Mechanics
  • PHYS 212 - University Physics: Elec & Mag
  • PHYS 225 - Relativity & Math Applications