Masao Sako is the Arifa Hasan Ahmad and Nada Al Shoaibi Presidential Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Sako’s research focuses on observational cosmology with supernovae in order to study dark energy. He is a member of current and future large-scale optical surveys to map out the detailed history of the Universe’s expansion. Sako is an author of more than 200 articles in scientific journals, and his research has received support from grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and NASA.

An innovator on many fronts, Sako and his group are developing machine learning and deep learning methods for analysis. He has been honored for his teaching and mentorship five times, including with the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest teaching award of the University. He was an early adopter of Structured, Active, In-class Learning (SAIL), and is faculty director of the Penn Boot Camps to teach students coding skills.