Dr. Strausbaugh is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Observatory Director at EIU.  His research interests are in astronomical transient phenomena (e.g. gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and gravitational wave progenitors) and developing the hardware and software to study these events.

He completed his undergraduate degree in Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2013, before pursuing his PhD at Arizona State University, where Nat Butler oversaw work on infrared detector instrumentation, modeling GRB afterglow data collected with RATIR, as well as work on transient surveys and follow-up of these events.  After successfully defending his thesis in 2019, he began a postdoc at the University of the Virgin Islands, and eventually began a Visiting Assistant Professor position there.  Working with Nino Cuchiara, he continued his work on GRB follow-ups, as well as working on transient surveys such as the Deeper, Wider, Faster program and the LSST.  He also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota working under the mentorship of Pat Kelly to develop a telescope array to search for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves.

In his free time, you can find him running, playing soccer or video games.