News

A new discovery from the group led by Asst. Prof. Mark Levin, Department of Chemistry, can easily cut nitrogen atoms from molecules. Similar processes currently in use generate a very toxic molecule—but Levin’s group instead adds a key reagent so nitrogen is released as two bonded nitrogens. As a new foundational method, the discovery opens up avenues for constructing molecules.

Chemistry alumnus Kirk Lancaster, SB’18, has been selected as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar and will receive full funding to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. A student of Chinese language and formerly an intern at the State Department’s Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Affairs, he will pursue advanced study of his intersecting interests of law, technology and international politics.

Two PSD undergraduates have received Barry Goldwater Scholarships, awarded annually based on academic merit and undergraduate research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. Second-year Alexandra Masegian, who is interested in astronomy, and third-year Claudia Yao, a mathematics major interested in topology, are among the 409 U.S. college students to be selected for this award—the preeminent undergraduate award of its kind in these fields—which covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year. Read more about their academic interests.

John Anderson, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, has been named a 2021 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar for leveraging unorthodox bonding effects in transition metal molecules and materials. According to the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the award recognizes early-career faculty who have "an outstanding independent body of scholarship and are deeply committed to education." Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars receive an unrestricted research grant of $100,000.

To a dynamicist like Amie Wilkinson, understanding the universe is about knowing all the right moves. Find out more on this podcast from Quanta Magazine.

Prof. Emeritus Victor Barcilon, applied mathematician and geophysical scientist, died April 15, 2020. A long-time professor at the University of Chicago, Barcilon showed a gift for using a type of mathematics called asymptotic analysis to improve understanding of the physical principles behind the world, from the mechanics of neurons to the behavior of oceans, glaciers and rock over time.
 

In a unique year, UChicago students find togetherness—apart. Students across majors joined astro professor Daniel Holz for “Are We Doomed?,” a class that uses readings and guest experts to inform different apocalyptic scenarios: nuclear war, climate change, artificial intelligence, and of course, pandemics and related biological issues.

Theoretical physicist Marc Kamionkowski, PhD’91, has been awarded the 2021 Gruber Cosmology Prize, along with Uroš Seljak of UC Berkeley and LBL, and Matias Zaldarriaga of IAS, for their contributions to methods essential for studying the early universe through analysis of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The award is given through the Gruber Foundation, which was established at Yale to honor and encourage excellence in the fields of cosmology, genetics, neuroscience, justice, and women’s rights.

An interdisciplinary team of UChicago physicists, including Michael Fruchart, Ryo Hanai, Peter Littlewood, and Vincenzo Vitelli, published a new theory for non-reciprocal matter in Nature. They describe how systems composed of many objects that have non-reciprocal interactions can evolve in surprising ways. This may underlie many phenomena we see around us, from neurons to bird flocks and quantum systems.

Edgar Marrufo and Aurora Ireland, graduate students in the Department of Physics, are among 78 outstanding U.S. graduate students who have been selected by The Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program to perform research in national laboratories.

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to build a quantum bit that can search for dark matter, use muscle response for digital authentication, design 'nanotraps' to catch and clear coronavirus from tissue, and harness molecules into a single quantum state. 

The PSD remembers organic chemist John C. Martin, PhD’77, who became a billionaire by developing and marketing a daily single-dose pill that transformed HIV into a manageable disease and who popularized another drug that cures hepatitis C. He died on March 30 at age 69.

In a long-awaited breakthrough, Prof. Cheng Chin and graduate students in the Department of Physics have harnessed molecules into a single quantum state —one of the most important goals in quantum physics.

UChicago scientists, including Assoc. Prof. Bozhi Tian of Chemistry, design ‘nanotraps’ to catch and clear coronavirus from tissue. The potential COVID-19 treatment pairs nanoparticles with immune system to search and destroy viruses.

UChicago beamline scientists at the GeoSoilEnviroCARS facility housed at Argonne National Laboratory helped geologists unlock the secrets of Earth’s early atmosphere. The technique involves very small beams that can measure the exact composition of the atmosphere when Earth’s oldest rocks were formed.