September 8, 2025
Please welcome the faculty joining the Physical Sciences Division in the 2025–26 academic year.
Jiajie Chen, Mathematics
Jiajie Chen is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. He is interested in analysis, partial differential equations (PDEs), and the integration of PDEs and rigorous numerics. His recent research focuses on singularity formation in nonlinear PDEs, especially those related to mathematical fluid mechanics. Chen received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Peking University and his PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Caltech. Before joining UChicago, he was a Courant Instructor at New York University.
Alex Cusumano, Chemistry
Alex Cusumano is an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department. His research integrates the fields of organometallic, computational, synthetic, and physical organic chemistry to offer unique approaches to challenges in the broader field of synthetic chemistry. Cusumano’s research explores novel electronic structure–reactivity paradigms, develops chemical intuition from quantum mechanical calculations, and pursues strategies to control the dynamical behavior of fleeting reaction intermediates. Insights from these endeavors lead to the development of synthetic methods for the construction of challenging bonds. Cusumano received his PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and he was Ruth L. Kirschstein NIH Postdoctoral Fellow the University of California Los Angeles prior to joining UChicago.
Moon Duchin, Computer Science/DSI
Moon Duchin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Data Science Institute. She comes to UChicago from previous positions at Cornell and Tufts. Duchin runs a Data and Democracy Lab (within a research institute of the same name) that builds interdisciplinary tools for the study of elections and redistricting. The lab develops mathematical and computational methods in conversation with law, geography, public policy, and government. Duchin has been recognized with a Radcliffe Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, a Sloan Professorship at the Simons-Laufer Mathematics Institute (SLMath), and as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. She has served as an expert witness in voting rights cases around the country.
Dipti Jasrasaria, Chemistry/JFI
Dipti Jasrasaria is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and the James Franck Institute. Her research uses theory and simulation to understand how material properties are governed by microscopic interactions between the electrons and atomic nuclei that compose the material. Through this understanding, her goal is not only to answer fundamental scientific questions in materials and physical chemistry, but also to optimize material performance for applications ranging from quantum information to energy conversion. Previously, Jasrasaria was a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University and completed her PhD in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley with the support of a DOE computational Science Graduate Fellowship. She received her AB in chemistry at Harvard University and MPhil in scientific computing at the University of Cambridge.
Eliza Kempton, Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eliza Kempton is a professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Her research is focused on the atmospheres of planets outside of our solar system—so-called "exoplanets." She uses a combination of theoretical modeling and observational data as a means of probing the chemistry, thermal structures, and dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres. She is motivated by questions relating to the diversity of exoplanets that populate our galaxy and how they differ from the planets in our solar system. Kempton received her BA in physics from Middlebury College and her PhD in astronomy from Harvard University. She was then a NASA Sagan postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Prior to arriving at the University of Chicago, she held faculty appointments at Grinnell College and the University of Maryland. Kempton has been the recipient of various awards, including a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement and an NSF CAREER Award.
Dahlia Klein, Physics/JFI (January 2026)
Dahlia Klein is a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and the James Franck Institute, starting January 2026. Her research investigates electronic phases in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals materials, with particular interest in the roles of electron interactions, topology, and magnetism. She develops novel scanning probe microscopy techniques that allow for the formation of dynamically tunable 2D interfaces, enabling real- and momentum-space imaging of 2D quantum matter. She received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania, her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science before joining UChicago.
Li Ma, Statistics/DSI
Li Ma is a professor of Statistics and Data Science at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on generative models, Bayesian modeling and computation, nonparametric inference, tree-based methods, and their applications in biomedical science. Prior to joining UChicago, he was a faculty member in the Department of Statistical Science at Duke University from 2011 to 2025. He is a Fellow of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.