2021
From simple interactions to complex computations: UChicago scientist seeks a unifying theory of the brain
June 17, 2021
As a theorist with a background in physics, Prof. Brent Doiron models the brain, and the network of neurons that compose it, as a complex system where interactions among individual components produce activity in a group or system that can’t be explained by just looking at the components in isolation.
PSD Spotlight: Melissa Salvo-Leadingham
June 16, 2021
PSD’s June spotlight is Melissa “Mel” Salvo-Leadingham, financial administrator for the PSD-LBC. Mel has been with the University of Chicago since November, 2019. This year she co-founded the Hispanic Latinx employee resource group called HLX.
Chinese rover on Mars ushers in new space race
June 14, 2021
Today’s on-the-ground missions exploring Mars are helping Profs. Edwin Kite and colleagues obtain a more direct and complete understanding of the red planet. Prof. Rocky Kolb comments the US and Chinese space programs should collaborate as well as compete.
Prof. Laura Gagliardi awarded Royal Society of Chemistry Prize
June 10, 2021
Professor Laura Gagliardi has been named the winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Faraday Lectureship Prize, celebrating the most exciting chemical science taking place today. She was cited for contributions to the development of multireference quantum chemical approaches to describe catalysis and excited state phenomena. The prize awards £3000 and a medal.
In special send-off to graduates, PSD students perform “Novi Scientiam”
June 9, 2021
As a special send-off to the 2021 graduates, students of the PSD came together to perform “Novi Scientiam,” a 21-part song composed by Dean Olinto’s husband, Sérgio Assad, and inspired by the “Alma Mater” Convocation theme of University of Chicago. The student musicians featured practiced during remote learning and submitted their recorded parts to be woven together into a film, debuting at the ceremony June 9.
Meet physics student, Kyle Kawagoe
June 9, 2021
Kyle Kawagoe was born and raised in Reedley, California. Before coming to University of Chicago, he was an undergraduate in The College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He has been a graduate student at UChicago for five years in the Department of Physics. His field of study is theoretical hard condensed matter physics and the physics of topological phases of matter. When the COVID-19 lockdowns started in the United States, he pivoted to theoretical biophysics, doing research on epidemiological modeling.
CCAM student awarded Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
June 8, 2021
Abigail Poteshman, a graduate student in the Committee on Computational and Applied Mathematics, has been awarded a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. “I plan to develop mathematical and computational techniques to improve the accuracy and efficiency of computational simulations of materials from first principles. In particular, I plan to focus on the thermal properties of materials for applications in sustainable energy technologies,” she said.
The first nuclear reactor, explained
June 7, 2021
In 1942, the Manhattan Project needed to create a chain reaction—a crucial step toward proving that it would be possible to make an atomic bomb. The scientists achieved this sustained nuclear reaction, the first created by humans, on Dec. 2, 1942, in a squash court under the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago.
Nicknamed “Chicago Pile-1,” the world’s first nuclear reactor kicked off the Atomic Age and has a complicated legacy, including the rise of both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.
Big Brains Podcast: Solving the biggest mysteries of our universe, with Dan Hooper
June 3, 2021
Prof. Dan Hooper discusses what happened after the Big Bang, ‘breaking’ the Standard Model of Physics
Dark Energy Survey releases most precise look yet at the universe’s evolution
June 1, 2021
The Dark Energy Survey, an international collaboration coordinated through the University of Chicago-affiliated Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, surveyed almost one-eighth of the entire sky over six years, cataloguing hundreds of millions of objects. The new results announced May 27 draw on data from the first three years to create the most precise maps yet of the distribution of galaxies in the universe at relatively recent epochs.
UChicago STEMEd offers high schools free finEDge Financial Education Curriculum
May 28, 2021
Do you know a high school teacher who wants to bring financial literacy into the classroom? Applications are open to high school educators nationwide for complimentary access to finEDge Financial Education Curriculum from UChicago STEMEd.
Profs. Rich Kron and Chihway Chang comment on new DES analysis of largest ever map of dark matter
May 28, 2021
Profs. Rich Kron and Chihway Chang of DES comment on “a smoother Universe” that is less dense than previously thought, based on an analysis of the largest ever map of dark matter created using light from 100 million galaxies.
Four named to DOE Early Career Research Program
May 27, 2021
Four PSD members are among 83 scientists selected for the DOE Early Career Research Program, awarding $150,000 annually for five years. Sarah King of Chemistry, Chihway Chang and Brian Nord of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Lindsey Bleem, PhD'13, of KICP.
Graduate students recognized for exceptional teaching of undergraduates
May 27, 2021
A graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, Frank Gao, has been named among the 2020 winners of the Wayne C. Booth Prize for Excellence in Teaching, awarded annually to graduate students for outstanding instruction of undergraduates. Additionally, three graduate students have been awarded the Physical Sciences Teaching Prizes for 2020-21: Gourav Khullar of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Sean Lee of the Department of Chemistry, and Victor Zhang of the Department of Physics. Read more about what inspires their teaching.
PSD in the News - May 2021
May 26, 2021
This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to theorize non-reciprocal interactions, push the frontiers of human computer interaction, and cut nitrogen atoms from molecules, opening up avenues for constructing molecules.