Building Description
The Leonard E. Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics is a leading research group located in UWM’s Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex, a state-of-the-art facility for scientific discovery. Opened in 2015, the six-story building was engineered to foster research that crosses traditional boundaries. The building blends highly advanced physical infrastructure with deliberate social architecture. It houses the physics and astronomy departments, as well as researchers from Zilber College of Public Health, the Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery and other fields.
Visitor Experience
Enjoy short, guided tours of the Parker Center and meet UWM physicists who assisted with one of history’s great scientific discoveries, the first-ever detection of gravitational waves resulting from colliding black holes. It’s research that confirmed a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein a century earlier, earning the LIGO team a Special Breakthrough Prize and the LIGO founders the Nobel Prize in Physics. Also, explore interactive exhibits in the building’s main atrium, and the student-led Coffeeshop Astrophysics team will present a trio of 20-to-25-minute lectures to explain more of the science behind our understanding of the universe.
Address
Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex, 3135 N Maryland Ave
Saturday Hours
10 am - 5 pm
Sunday Hours
Not Open
Photography
Photography allowed, Videography allowed, Tripod allowed
Accessiblity
Fully wheelchair accessible
