Get our free mobile app A Texas Tech University astrophysicist is set to receive close to $300,000 over the next 5 years as part of a $17 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Joseph Romano, a professor in TTU's Department of Physics & Astronomy, conducts research in gravitational-wave data analysis. It's said in a news release that his work fits perfectly with the goals of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves, or NANOGrav. Earlier in June, the NSF announced its support of NANOGrav with the $17 million grant over the next 5 years for operation of the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center, which will address the detection and characterization of low-frequency gravitational waves.