News: Faculty

In four papers published Dec. 4 in Nature, researchers describe a flood of new data from the Parker Solar Probe's landmark mission that will help us understand everything from the nature of stars to improving our forecasting of solar storms that can affect electronics on Earth.  In its first year, the Parker Solar Probe learned new information about two types of major space weather events. It also saw the first signs of the zone around the sun where cosmic dust disappears—predicted decades ago, but never seen—as well as an entirely new phenomenon: bizarre “switchbacks” in the solar wind that flows off the surface of the sun.  

In a series of four papers in the Astrophysical Journal, a team of astronomers, including Assoc. Prof. Jacob Bean, proposes a new method of using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to determine whether a rocky exoplanet has an atmosphere. The technique, which involves measuring the planet’s temperature as it passes behind its star and then comes back into view, is significantly faster than more traditional methods of atmospheric detection like transmission spectroscopy.  

UChicago chemists have discovered an efficient method to make tetra-substituted olefins, a kind of olefin with four different attachments—used in everything from medicines to new ways to store data. With the new method, they can easily and precisely select the four different attachments. Additionally, their catalyst cuts the number of steps to make the compounds from around seven to two or three.

Quanta Magazine highlights three physicists--Stephen Parke of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Xining Zhang of the University of Chicago and Peter Denton of Brookhaven National Laboratory—who discovered a new mathematical formula while studying neutrinos. 

A new study from University of Chicago and University of California, Santa Barbara researchers finds that external attackers can use inexpensive technology to turn Wi-Fi signals into motion detectors, monitoring activity inside a building without being detected themselves. 

 With only a small, commercially available Wi-Fi receiver, an attacker from outside the target site can measure the strength of signals emitted from connected devices and monitor a site remotely for motion, sensing whether a room is occupied. The research, led by leading UChicago computer scientists Heather Zheng and Ben Zhao, reveals the technique of these attacks as well as potential defenses. 

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. 

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

Astronomers at the University of Chicago, MIT and elsewhere have used a massive cluster of galaxies as an X-ray magnifying glass to peer back in time, to nearly 9.4 billion years ago. In the process, they spotted a tiny dwarf galaxy in its very first, high-energy stages of star formation

UChicago faculty designed an alternate reality game, Terrarium, to help students develop innovative proposals about climate change and practice the kind of rigorous inquiry at the heart of UChicago's core values.  

University of Chicago Prof. Chuan He partnered with Northwestern Assoc. Prof. Wei Zhang to develop a simple blood test that accurately detects whether patients with diabetes have developed vascular complications, which are responsible for about two-thirds of diabetes deaths. 

Jacob Bean, associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, led a project to build and install an innovative instrument that will scan the skies for new exoplanets—worlds in other solar systems that could potentially host life. Over the past eight years, Bean and his team had designed and built the instrument, called MAROON-X; this summer they finally attached it to a telescope at the Gemini Observatory at the top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. 

AI technology is increasingly used to open up new horizons for scientists and researchers. At the University of Chicago, researchers are using it for everything from scanning the skies for supernovae to finding new drugs from millions of potential combinations and developing a deeper understanding of the complex phenomena underlying the Earth’s climate. 

 

A new study by a group of scientists including a University of Chicago professor argues that the ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere from a giant asteroid collision in outer space. 

Forbes features Prof. Fred Chong's Quora response to the question: how will quantum computing change our society? He discusses possible technological advancements using quantum computing, including providing new means for encrypting and securely communicating data. 

Fifteen faculty members across five departments joined the Physical Sciences Division this fall. Read more about their research interests and backgrounds.