Dr. Marco Cavaglia started researching astrophysics when he was six years old – at least that is how he describes it.  

“It all started with a kid’s sticker album – a history of the universe, and the first section was all about the planets,” says Cavaglia, professor of physics at Missouri S&T. “I was so amazed by the existence of other planets existing that I never got past the first few pages of the album. I still have the album somewhere at my parents’ house. 

“Then one Christmas I received a microscope and the next year a telescope – and that did the trick,” says Cavaglia. “The microscope not so much, because you could see nasty little things, but the telescope was inspirational.”  

Cavaglia went on to earn a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, in 1996 – his academic advisor was the same person who advised the world-renown Dr. Stephen Hawking. Over the last 30 years, he has authored more than 270 articles in peer-reviewed journals focusing on experimental and theoretical gravitational-wave detection, classical and quantum models of gravity, high-energy cosmic rays, cosmology and applied mathematics.  

From Turin, Italy, to Rolla, Missouri  

Born in Turin, Italy, Cavaglia has worked in Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the U.S. states of Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Missouri. 

He says that every location has its own positives, but there is also something you always miss when you move to the next location. For his hometown, Cavaglia says he misses seeing his family, the food, especially the cheeses, and that there was no need for a car.  

“When you travel, you meet so many people of different cultures and they all give you something, you know,” says Cavaglia.  

In Germany, there were the Christmas markets, the museums, and hearing the Berlin philharmonic for 5 Euros. In Portugal there was great food, the sea and a relaxed atmosphere. In the UK, there was so much history and remarkable landscapes.  

“When I moved to the University of Mississippi, it was the first time away from a large city and a bit of a culture shock,” says Cavaglia. “It was similar to Missouri S&T in terms of size and scale. And you know I like Rolla a lot, too, the outdoors areas are so great.” 

Food makes the world go round  

Outside of his research laboratory, Cavaglia keeps busy by recreating the foods of the cultures and cities he has lived in. He even makes his own yogurt and says that he loves the Rolla farmer’s market.  

“The best place to eat in town? My house,” says Cavaglia with a laugh. “I make northern Italian cuisine like the dish bagna cauda – a hot dip with garlic, anchovies, milk, and you dip winter vegetables in it.” 

He has his family’s cookbook and says he can teach anyone how to make real Italian pizza – but he warns it is different than U.S. chain restaurants’ pizza that have “too many toppings” on them.  

“But I do not give out my Tiramisu recipe,” says Cavaglia. “It gives me power over my friends.”  

Motivating his students’ outreach efforts 

Cavaglia says that one big characteristic of any scientist is curiosity. Some say that scientists are kids who never grew out of asking a million questions. 

“In high school I was good in math, and thought that maybe I could go into business or engineering, but I wanted the ‘how’ part of how things work,” says Cavaglia. “And the research can consume you – the other day, I was hungry and didn’t realize why until I saw the time and realized I was researching until 10:30 p.m.”  

He says he is motivated to keep working by others – both the success of his peers and by the newest students he meets. 

“The first thing philosophers did is look up to the sky and ask ‘where are we?’” says Cavaglia. “It is romantic stuff, the sky. How much art is inspired by it, like Van Gogh? Even prehistoric cave drawings have the stars.” 

Cavaglia insists on including K-12 outreach projects into his research work. He says that he still remembers scientists visiting his school when he was a kid and wants to pay that inspiration back to the new generations.  

“In my group of graduate students, outreach is a must – from day one,” says Cavaglia. “And it is easy because kids are so interested and curious.” 

He says that young kids are often the most engaged listeners to science and ask the hard questions without fear. 

“I remember at a science center in Oklahoma, a young girl comes up with her mom after my talk and says ‘Black holes are made of nothing, but you said they are turning. How can nothing be turning?’” says Cavaglia. “That is such a hard question – you have to really know your stuff to answer it!”  

His advice to high school students considering studying physics in college is to not be intimidated.  

“If you’re scared of math, you aren’t necessarily a bad student, you may have had bad experiences or a bad teacher along the way,” says Cavaglia. “None of us are Einstein, but you don’t have to be – everyone can do scientific research. The world isn’t full of super geniuses – just curious people.”