His research focuses on understanding the origin of violent cosmic events and using such transients as astrophysical probes. Bloom is the Director of the Berkeley Center for Time-Domain Informatics and principal investigator of the largest robotic infrared telescope dedicated to time-domain studies. He received a Bachelors degree from Harvard College, a Masters of Philosophy from Cambridge University, and a PhD from the California Institute of Technology. He was a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows before joining the Berkeley faculty in 2005. He was a Sloan Research Fellow and, in 2010, was awarded the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize by the American Astronomical Society. He published his first book last year, titled “What are Gamma-ray Bursts?”, part of the Princeton University Press Frontiers of Physics series."