News

Lek-Heng Lim, Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics, has been named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) for "contributions to applied mathematics, particularly numerical linear algebra." The Fellows of the AMS designation recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics. 

Matthew Zajac, graduate student in the Department of Chemistry at UChicago, was runner-up in Nature's Young Scientist Essay Competition. Reproduction, rethought, his essay about the desire for science to develop same-sex reproduction technology, has been published online. 

Prof. Amie Wilkinson has won the 2020 Levi L. Conant Prize for the "best expository paper published in either the Notices of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) or the Bulletin of the AMS in the preceding five years."

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has named Profs. Shan Lu and Heather Zheng as Distinguished Members. This designation recognizes members for educational, engineering, and scientific contributions to computing.

With a $4 million grant over five years, a team of researchers including Prof. Diana Franklin, research associate professor at UChicago CS and director of computer science education at UChicago STEM Education, will develop, pilot, and implement a new curriculum designed to promote both computational thinking and language arts in young students.

This month, PSD researchers have been featured for shaping the emerging field of AI, developing blood tests to detect diabetic complications and cancer, creating new models for moon formation, and more.

A year ago a trio of mathematicians solved what’s called Zimmer’s conjecture, which is named after mathematician and University of Chicago president, Robert Zimmer. Their proof stands as one of the biggest mathematical achievements in recent years. President Robert Zimmer discusses the original question and geometric symmetries with Quanta Magazine.

Conducted in the lab of Prof. Nicolas Dauphas, a study measured rubidium in both the Earth and moon and created a new model to explain the differences in their makeup. The breakthrough reveals new insights into a conundrum about the moon’s formation that has gripped the field of lunar science over the past decade, known as the “lunar isotopic crisis.”

In a new study, Asst. Prof. Malte Jansen and former UChicago postdoctoral researcher Alice Marzocchi lay out how an initial change in climate could start a chain of events that leads to an ice age. Their model shows how the increase in Antarctic sea ice in a colder climate could trigger a waterfall of changes that could contribute to tipping the global climate into glacial periods.

GMTO Corporation, the organization managing the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) on behalf of its U.S. and international founders, has signed a contract with MT Mechatronics and Ingersoll Machine Tools to design, build and install the telescope’s precision steel structure. The GMT is a 24.5-meter (80-ft) diameter next-generation giant optical-infrared observatory that will explore the frontiers of astronomy, including seeking to answer one of humanity’s most pressing questions: “Are we alone?” The GMT will study the atmospheres of planets orbiting stars far from our solar system to search for signs of biochemistry.

The Michelson Center for Physics at the University of Chicago was awarded an AIA Chicago Design Excellence Award in the Distinguished Building category at Navy Pier on October 25. The Design Excellence Award recognizes the best work by Chicago architecture firms worldwide as well as Chicago-based projects by national and international firms.

Three physicists at the University of Chicago and two national laboratories have discovered a fundamental identity in linear algebra—based on studying particle physics. 

Geophysical sciences graduate student Grant McDonald and artist Katie Wood developed an audio work of the sounds of Antarctic glaciers to call attention to climate change and its effects on the melting continent. 

Prof. Yamuna Krishnan of the Department of Chemistry is November 2019’s PSD Spotlight. She has been at the University for five years and particularly enjoys the “breadth of science covered by the PSD—from computer science and math to chemical biology.”

The Department of Energy announced that it has awarded funding to boost research on dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up an astounding 85% of the matter in the universe. The University of Chicago is a partner in the Fermilab-led initiative, Toward unprecedented sensitivity with skipper CCDs.