2022
Prof. Norbert F. Scherer named Optica 2022 C.E.K. Mees Medal recipient
March 8, 2022
The Optical Society of America, now named Optica, selected Prof. Norbert F. Scherer of the Department of Chemistry as the 2022 C.E.K. Mees Medal recipient. He was honored for seminal contributions to optical science, especially nonlinear spectroscopy and microscopy and optical matter experiments.
James Webb Space Telescope will help assess atmospheres of strange ‘sub-Neptunes’
March 4, 2022
Jacob Bean, associate professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, is co-leading a team that plans to use James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to look at sub-Neptune planets and better model atmosphere composition and circulation.
Prof. Wendy Freedman named speaker for UChicago’s 2022 Convocation celebration
March 3, 2022
Prof. Wendy Freedman, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, will address this year’s graduating class on the Main Quad during the June 4 ceremony. A renowned cosmologist, Freedman led the team that made a landmark measurement in 2001 of the Hubble constant—the rate at which the universe is expanding.
Could tiny devices made out of DNA treat cancer?
March 3, 2022
A team of University of Chicago chemists and biologists including Prof. Yamuna Krishnan developed a tiny device made out of DNA intended to locate tumor cells and force them to reveal themselves to patrolling immune cells.
Scratching the surface: Regional research groups explore winter conditions of Green Bay, Great Lakes
March 1, 2022
Students and researchers in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences participated in the recently launched “Winter Grab,” a first of its kind, week-long collection event for regional researchers studying Great Lakes’ winter conditions.
CS Prof. Diana Franklin featured speaker for quantum workforce national plan
February 28, 2022
Following the release of the national plan for developing a quantum workforce, educators and leaders in quantum information science came together to discuss the future of quantum education in the US. Computer science professor Diana Franklin was a featured speaker.
Local nuclear reactor helps UChicago scientists catch and study neutrinos
February 28, 2022
A nuclear reactor at an Illinois energy plant is helping University of Chicago scientists learn how to catch and understand the tiny, elusive particles known as neutrinos. Prof. Juan Collar said, “This is the closest that neutrino physicists have been able to get to a commercial reactor core.”
How an alum’s invention helped propel the U.S. space race
February 28, 2022
Chemist Reatha Clark King, SM’60, PhD’63, invented a coiled tube that allowed fuel to cool instead of exploding, a crucial advance in the space race. She is also the lead author of a 1967 paper on oxygen difluoride—considered as a key component of rocket fuel and has since become a standard ingredient. Following her years in the laboratory, she was a college president, led the General Mills Foundation, and is an emeritus trustee of UChicago.
In the News – February 2022
February 24, 2022
This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to read out a qubit on demand and set a record for preserving quantum states for more than five seconds, to revolutionize the field of 2D materials with a technique to cut and stack fragile sheets of nanomaterials, and to demonstrate ultracold atoms can segregate into separate domain states.
The next big quantum leap may require better software
February 24, 2022
Seymour Goodman Professor of Computer Science Fred Chong comments on a new programming language called Twist that can help scientists discover which qubits in their machines become entangled when working on a problem, and then take specific actions, like only accepting data from an unentangled qubit.
Remembering Moddie Taylor, a Black scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project
February 23, 2022
More than a dozen Black scientists made key contributions to the Manhattan Project but their stories have often been overlooked. One of them was Moddie Taylor, SM’39, PhD’43, who worked in the Metallurgical Laboratory—the arm of the Manhattan Project based at UChicago—and went on to lead Howard University chemistry.
If we ever travel to another star, we’re going here
February 22, 2022
Exoplanet researcher and astronomy and astrophysics student, Emily Gilbert, comments on the identification of Proxima d, another planet around Proxima Centauri, the sun’s closest neighbor.
Geophysical scientists invited onto NASA’s Curiosity rover mission as participating scientists, will choose targets for three year period
February 21, 2022
NASA has selected University of Chicago associate professor of geophysical sciences, Edwin Kite, to join the Mars Curiosity rover mission as a participating scientist. Kite, along with fourth-year Ph.D. student Sasha Warren, hopes to expand the rover science team’s understanding of climate history on Mars.
Meet mathematics student, Colin Aitken
February 18, 2022
Colin Aitken was born and brought up in San Jose, California. Before coming to the University of Chicago, he was at MIT where he studied math and performed in the Shakespeare Ensemble. He has been a graduate student at UChicago for five years in the Department of Mathematics, though he sometimes hangs out in the Department of Economics. His field of study is algebraic topology.
Do you know who that worker you just hired really is?
February 17, 2022
Neubauer Professor of Computer Science Ben Zhao comments on misrepresentation and fraud in modern hiring.