News: Faculty

NASA detects a faint 13-billion-year-old polarized light signal from the universe’s first stars, revealing clues about the cosmic dawn.

Daniel Holz, professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics, serves as a PI on a research project that explores the physics of strong gravity. 

Devices can levitate powered only by sunlight, could explore little-known areas.

Webb telescope helps scientists narrow down the search for “Earth twin” planets.

K1 Semiconductor, which recently took second place in the Polsky New Venture Challenge and Grainger Engineering Tech Startup Challenge, is developing a technique that could drastically improve chip manufacturing.

Ten of the 18 projects awarded grants involve faculty from the Physical Sciences Division. These projects are crucial in tackling climate change.

Congratulations to Robert Wald, Charles H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College, who has received a 2025 Dirac Medal from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).

This episode of the Big Brains podcast features Chemistry Professor Greg Engel, who helped launch the field of quantum biology. Engel explains how plants and bacteria evolved to exploit quantum effects for photosynthesis—and how understanding these systems could spark a revolution in quantum sensing, medicine, and neuroscience.

Congratulations to Abigail Vieregg, Professor of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, and the College, who has received a 2025 Cottrell SEED Award!

Congratulations to Prof. Talapin and Prof. Anderson, who have received prestigious ACS awards! The American Chemical Society has announced its 2026 national award winners, acknowledged for their outstanding achievements in chemistry across various fields in the discipline.

Near Modane, a laboratory buried beneath the Alps is attempting to capture elements of a world parallel to our own. Paolo Privitera uses this laboratory to study dark matter. 

[Article published in French. View in Chrome browser for translation option.]

Fred Ciesla reveals how observations of a young star offer a glimpse of the high-temperature conditions that shaped rock formation in the early Solar System.

Hank Hoffmann, Liew Family Chair of Computer Science, earns SEAMS Most Influential Paper Award for research on using control theory to enhance adaptive software reliability and responsiveness.

Professors Steven Sibener in Chemistry and Meghana Ranganathan in Geophysical Sciences will lead project to better predict ice loss.

Yearly American Association of Physics Teachers award, given to Nadya Mason, honors outstanding contributions to physics and their communication to physics educators.