News

On April 16, the University of Chicago’s Data Science Institute and Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation welcomed James Hairston, former Meta executive and current head of global innovation policy at OpenAI, for a lunch and learn that gave students a window into one of the companies shaping the future of technology. 

The work of 2024 PhD Joint Program participant Rajini Wijayawardan, a graduate student in Computer Science working in the lab of Andrew Chien, addresses a question at the forefront of many minds, particularly amidst the rise of AI: how can the environmental impact of data centers be reduced?

UChicago’s Alex Kale receives the Early CAREER Award for advancing ethical and practical standards in data visualization, empowering creators and audiences to better interpret what charts reveal and what they conceal.

Frank Calegari, professor and associate chair of the Department of Mathematics, and Young-Kee Kim, the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute, have been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences.

With the war on Iran, Ukraine, AI and climate breakdown increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, the clock stands closer to midnight than ever before. So who decides how many seconds we have left - and can we buy ourselves more time? 

As AI-generated music increasingly dominates streaming platforms, Quicksilver, a cutting edge browser extension from SAND Lab, gives listeners the power to identify machine-made tracks in real time. Developed alongside the nonprofit ETCH, the project champions transparency, ethical technology, and support from human creativity in a rapidly evolving digital soundscape.

PhD Graduate Brennan Schaffner receives ACM SIGCHI special recognition award for his research on dark patterns, subsequent interventions, and influence users. 

The home of the University of Chicago’s Data Science Institute (DSI), 5460 S. University Ave., has been dedicated in honor of longstanding supporters Yuji Suzuki, SM'70, and his late wife, Lorraine Suzuki, PhD’73, who met and married at the University of Chicago. The University celebrated the dedication of the Lorraine and Yuji Suzuki Center at a May 19 ceremony featuring UChicago leaders, alumni, family and friends of the Suzukis, and members of the Data Science Institute.

 

Congratulations to the PSD community members who have been recognized with 2026 Frontiers of Science Awards. Michael Levin, Professor in Physics and the JFI, and Physics alum Carolyn Zhang, PhD'23, are recognized for the field of condensed matter physics. Yoav Afik, a postdoctoral scholar in the EFI who works on the ATLAS experiment, is recognized for research in particle physics phenomenology.

Senior Pre-Award Lead Administrator Bruxanne El-Kammash, Senior Pre-Award Lead Administrator in PSD’s Local Business Center, joined the PSD in April 2025. We interviewed Bruxanne about her interests and experiences.

The SciFM 26 conference will be hosted at UChicago from May 27-29.

Breakthrough could speed up new drug discovery.

Detection by Askaryan Radio Array holds promise for future research into sources, nature of cosmic rays and neutrinos. 

Schmidt AI in Science Fellows mentored twelve interdisciplinary student teams that applied machine learning to advance scientific discovery.

The University of Chicago has announced a new joint-degree program that combines a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the Pritzker School of Medicine with a Master of Science in Applied Data Science from the Data Science Institute and Physical Sciences Division.