NASA Logo in the header
Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Nicholas Wade Cannady

(RESEARCH AST, FIELDS AND PARTICLES)

Nicholas Wade Cannady's Contact Card & Information.
Email: nicholas.w.cannady@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.6546
Org Code: 661
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 661
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Brief Bio

Dr. Nicholas Cannady is a Research Astrophysicist at NASA GSFC. His research has centered on the instrumentation to acquire, the simulation of, and the reconstruction of gamma-ray and cosmic-ray data in the MeV–TeV range. In his graduate work at Louisiana State University in the CALET collaboration, Dr. Cannady defined the separation photon primaries from charged galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), characterized the instrument response to those events, and analyzed the signals from transient and persistent astrophysical sources. He has experience with leveraging High-Performance Computer (HPC) resources for large-scale simulations, low-level data handling and processing, and getting his hands dirty with detector construction and testing in the lab.


Since coming to GSFC, Dr. Cannady has taken on leadership of the CALET US team, and is the US member of the CALET International Executive Committee. He has continued and expanded his work on CALET to include analysis of cosmic-ray electrons at the highest energies and ultra-heavy nuclei beyond iron. Drawing on his experience with the LSU SuperMike-II HPC cluster, he uses the NCCS ADAPT cluster at GSFC to carry out high-statistics simulations of particles interacting in the CALET calorimeter at GeV–TeV energies.


In addition to his work on CALET, Dr. Cannady has joined various teams contributing to future cosmic-ray and gamma-ray missions. He is a member of the TIGERISS project, selected in 2022 for the NASA Astrophysics Pioneers program, for which he leads Cherenkov detector development and the Science and Mission Operations Center planning and implementation. TIGERISS will be installed on the International Space Station and measure the abundances of GCR nuclei from boron to beyond lead.


Dr. Cannady is also the GSFC institutional PI of the pGRAMS mission, which is a balloon-borne prototype for the GRAMS detector concept. GRAMS uses a LAr Time Projection Chamber in conjunction with a time-of-flight detector to address science goals pertaining to both MeV gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray anti-particle detection.


Dr. Cannady also participates in a number of efforts towards future gamma-ray and cosmic-ray missions, including ComPair (a prototype for the AMEGO family of MeV gamma-ray observatories) and GALE (a balloon-borne MeV gamma-ray telescope utilizing a coded aperture for fine spatial resolution).

Research Interests

Cosmic-ray Astrophysics

Astrophysics: Cosmic Rays

Cosmic-ray Instrumentation

Astrophysics: Cosmic Rays

Scientific Computing

Astrophysics: Analysis

Current Projects

Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET)

Cosmic Rays

The Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) project is an international collaboration led by Japan, with active members also in the United States and Italy. The primary CALET instrument is a 30 radiation length-deep electromagnetic calorimeter deployed on the International Space Station since August 2015. It is capable of measuring the charge and energy spectra of cosmic-ray electrons and gamma rays from 1 GeV to tens of TeV and cosmic-ray protons and nuclei to PeV energies.  The payload also includes the CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (CGBM), which is sensitive to gamma-ray transients in the energy range 7 keV–20 MeV.

Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder on the International Space Station (TIGERISS)

Cosmic Rays

The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder on the International Space Station (ISS) was selected in 2022 for the NASA Astrophysics Pioneers program and is planned to be launched in 2024. TIGERISS is the successor to SuperTIGER in a family of instruments designed to measure ultra-heavy galactic cosmic-ray abundances. Whereas TIGER and SuperTIGER were scientific balloon-borne instruments, TIGERISS will be in space, removing the residual atmosphere overhead leading to decreased systematic errors as compared to SuperTIGER. The instrument is designed to combine ionization measurements in silicon strip detectors and Cherenkov radiation from acrylic and aerogel radiators to identify nuclei from boron up to lead and beyond, testing models of nucleosynthesis and cosmic-ray injection.

Gamma-Ray and Anti-Matter Survey (GRAMS)

Cosmic Rays

GRAMS is an instrument concept using a liquid argon time projection chamber (TPC) in conjunction with a time-of-flight (TOF) system to address both MeV gamma-ray and cosmic-ray anti-particle science goals. GRAMS is led by Northeastern University, and the project is currently funded for a prototype flight (pGRAMS) through the APRA program. The pGRAMS GSFC team is responsible for the TOF and multiplicity detector systems, as well as support subsystems including the cryostat, the power system, and the gondola. pGRAMS is expected to fly via a commercial balloon provider (WorldView) in spring 2026.

Positions/Employment

Research Astrophysicist

NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center

January 2025 - Present

Assistant Research Scientist

CRESST-II / University of Maryland, Baltimore County - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

October 2022 - January 2025

Postdoctoral Research Associate

CRESST-II / University of Maryland Baltimore County - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

May 2019 - October 2022

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge, LA

December 2018 - April 2019

Education

PhD (Physics), 2018, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

  • Thesis: Observation of High-Energy Gamma Rays with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) On-board the International Space Station

BS (Physics), 2011, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

BS (Mathematics), 2011, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

Selected Publications

Refereed

2026. "Charge-sign dependent drift effects in the time-lag of cosmic-ray variation relative to solar activity observed with CALET.", Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, ptag025 [10.1093/ptep/ptag025] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "Effects of the May 2024 Solar Storm on the Earth's Radiation Belts Observed by CALET on the International Space Station.", Geophysical Research Letters, 53 (3): e2025GL120032 [10.1029/2025GL120032] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Antihelium-3 sensitivity for the GRAMS experiment.", Astroparticle Physics, 173 103152 [10.1016/j.astropartphys.2025.103152] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "SuperTIGER galactic cosmic-ray source abundances for the charge interval 16 ⩽ Z ⩽ 56.", Advances in Space Research, [10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.037] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Detected Abundances of Nuclei Relative to 26Fe for Elements 14Si through 44Ru with CALET on the International Space Station.", The Astrophysical Journal, 988 (2): 148 [10.3847/1538-4357/ade3cc] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Background Measurements and Simulations of the ComPair Balloon Flight.", Particles, 8 (3): 69 [10.3390/particles8030069] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "First Operation of a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) in the Stratosphere as an Engineering Gamma-Ray and AntiMatter Survey (GRAMS) Balloon Flight (eGRAMS).", Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, 2024 (12): 123F01 [10.1093/ptep/ptae179] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "From SuperTIGER to TIGERISS.", Instruments, 8 (1): 4 [10.3390/instruments8010004] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Direct Measurement of the Spectral Structure of Cosmic-Ray Electrons + Positrons in the TeV Region with CALET on the International Space Station.", Physical Review Letters, 131 (19): 191001 [10.1103/physrevlett.131.191001] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer mission concept.", Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 8 (04): [10.1117/1.jatis.8.4.044003] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Observation of Spectral Structures in the Flux of Cosmic-Ray Protons from 50 GeV to 60 TeV with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station.", Physical Review Letters, 129 (10): 101102 [10.1103/physrevlett.129.101102] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Exploring the MeV sky with a combined coded mask and Compton telescope: the Galactic Explorer with a Coded aperture mask Compton telescope (GECCO).", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2022 (07): 036 [10.1088/1475-7516/2022/07/036] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "CALET Search for Electromagnetic Counterparts of Gravitational Waves during the LIGO/Virgo O3 Run.", The Astrophysical Journal, 933 (1): 85 [10.3847/1538-4357/ac6f53] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Characteristics and Performance of the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) Calorimeter for Gamma-Ray Observations.", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 238 (1): 5 [10.3847/1538-4365/aad6a3] [Journal Article/Letter]

Contact Us

For general inquiries about the Sciences and Exploration Directorate.

Jocelyn Lynch

Project Support Specialist

301-286-6066 jocelyn.m.lynch@nasa.gov
Ellie Jeffries

Project Support Specialist

301-286-6066 ellie.jeffries@nasa.gov
Technical issues with this website may be reported to ben.pelletier@nasa.gov.
General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Office of Communications at 1.301.286.8955.