Sherry H. Suyu

Hello! I am an Associate Professor at the Technical University of Munich and a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

I use the spectacular phenomenon of gravitational lensing to probe the dark cosmos: dark energy, dark matter and supermassive black holes. I also work on the extremely bright side of the Universe in observing splendid cosmic fireworks from supernovae and tidal disruption events.

I have led the H0LiCOW program that measured the expansion rate of our Universe using gravitationally lensed quasars (weblink here). With the support from the European Research Council through a Consolidator Grant, I am launching a new program on lensed supernovae: HOLISMOKES!

My research has been featured in the National Geographic, the New York Times, the Guardian and other magazines and newspapers.

Thanks to my H0LiCOW collaborators for the great teamwork over the years, I have received the 2021 Berkeley Prize from the American Astronomical Society for Meritorious Work in Astronomy.

In our research group's webpage and also below, you can find out more about our research and teaching.

suyu@mpa-garching.mpg.de

Technical University of Munich
TUM School of Natural Sciences
Department of Physics
James-Franck-Str. 1
85748 Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)89 289 53620
Office: 3007

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1
85748 Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)89 30000 2015
Office: 103

Research

  • Observational cosmology
  • Cosmic expansion rate
  • Dark energy and dark matter
  • Supermassive black holes
  • Gravitational lensing
  • Supernovae
  • Bayesian inference and methods

Group members

    Satadru Bag (Postdoc Fellow)
    Limeng Deng (Ph.D. student)
    Leon Ecker (Ph.D. student)
    Jana Grupa (Ph.D. student)
    Duy Anh Hoang (Bachelor student)
    Elias Mamuzić (Ph.D. student)
    Allan Gabriel Schweinfurth Pupo (Master student)
    Stefan Taubenberger (Postdoc Fellow)
    Han Wang (Postdoc Fellow)

Group alumni

    Irham Taufik Andika (Postdoc Fellow, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
    Gabriel Bartosch Caminha (Data Engineer/Scientist)
    Raoul Cañameras (Postdoc Fellow, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)
    James Hung-Hsu Chan (Postdoc Fellow, the City University of New York)
    Gordon Ming Kei Chan (Bachelor student, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
    Dani Chun-Yi Chao (Policy analyst)
    Geoff Chih-Fan Chen (Founder, start-up)
    Janet Ting-Wan Chen (Assistant Professor, National Central University, Taiwan)
    Giulia Chirivì (Data Scientist)
    Sebastian Ertl (Data Engineer)
    Andreas Filipp (Ph.D. student, University of Montreal)
    Aymeric Galan (Swiss SNSF Postdoc Fellow)
    Florian Höfer (Former bachelor student, Technical University of Munich)
    Simon Huber (Data Scientist)
    Martin Lledo (Bachelor student, Technical University of Munich)
    Alejandra Melo Melo (Postdoc Fellow, European Southern Observatory)
    Stefan Schuldt (Postdoc Fellow, University of Milan)
    Deniz Sen (Former bachelor student, Technical University of Munich)
    Yiping Shu (Faculty Member, Purple Mountain Observatory)
    Chitsanupong [Chichi] Somma (Master student, Technical University of Munich)
    Kaitlyn Szekerczes (Graduate student, Pennsylvania State University)
    Christian Vogl (R&D Scientist)
    Kenneth Wong (Project Assistant Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan)
    Akın Yıldırım (Financial Analyst)

Teaching

    TUM PH8016 (Summer Semester 2026): Introduction to Nuclear, Particle and Astrophysics (in English)
    TUM PH2206 (Summer Semester 2026): Extragalactic Astrophysics
    TUM PH1 (Winter Semester 2025/6): Experimental Physics 1 (in English)
    TUM PH2242 (Winter Semester 2025/6): Gravitational Lensing
    TUM PH4 (Summer Semester 2023): Experimental Physics 4 (in English)
Last updated: Jan 31, 2026