A flood of new data, developments in technology and computing, and advances in theory are making for exciting times for cosmologists, according to Andreas Albrecht, a theoretical cosmologist at the University of California, Davis. Studying the history of the universe gives insights into fundamental physics, said Albrecht. "We can think of the Big Bang as a high-energy physics laboratory," he said. Albrecht describes himself as an opportunist in research, taking advantage of new data from observational studies. One of his main interests at present is cosmic acceleration -- the discovery that the universe is not only expanding after the Big Bang, but that the expansion is getting faster. Albrecht's group is working on theories of "dark energy," a force that could explain the acceleration. Eventually, the theories will have to be tested against actual observations, but scientists will need a framework to design experiments and interpret data. Albrecht joined UC Davis in 1998, from Imperial College, London. Together with astronomer Bob Becker and other members of the physics department, he is building a world-class cosmology group at UC Davis. The most recent recruit is Lloyd Knox, who joined the faculty in January from the University of Chicago. Recruitment for two more full-time positions is in progress.