News: Faculty

Assoc. Prof. of Computer Science Henry Hoffman and Assoc. Prof. of Physics Abigail Vieregg are among the winners of the 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. 

László Babai has been named the Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Computer Science, Mathematics, and the College. His work is centered on theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics. Nick Feamster, who joins UChicago this summer, has been named the Neubauer Professor in the Department of Computer Science and the College. His work focuses on experimental networked systems and security. 

Clemens C.J. Roothaan, Louis Block Professor Emeritus of Physics and Chemistry, died June 17 at age 100. Roothan's research focused on the electronic structure of atoms and molecules with some of his structure models still being used today. Prof. Emeritus R. Stephen Berry lauds Roothaan as "the person who most deserved, but never received the Nobel Prize."  

University of Chicago astrophysicist, Irina Zhuravleva, led a study that provides a brand-new glimpse of the small-scale physics of intergalactic plasma. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists took a detailed look at the plasma in a distant galaxy cluster and discovered the flow of plasma is much less viscous than expected and, therefore, turbulence occurs on relatively small scales—an important finding for our numerical models of the largest objects in the universe. 

 

A team of physicists at the University of Chicago has built a quantum system to simulate the physics of Unruh radiation. The breakthrough advances our understanding of these complex physics—and could ultimately help us explain how the largest and smallest phenomena in the universe fit together. 

Quanta Magazine spoke with Wilkinson about the emotional dimensions of mathematical discovery, bizarre examples of dynamical systems that she’s found, and the idea of a “safe space” in mathematics.  

 In a recent study, Prof. Slater from Geophysical Sciences, along with Samantha Presslee (University of York) and Ross MacPhee (American Museum of Natural History), utilized Paleoproteomics to point out differences between two and three-toed sloths—effectively rewriting sloth classification. 

This week, Prof. Malliaris of Mathematics was awarded the Quantrell award and Profs. Hu of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Lalley of Statistics were both awarded Faculty Awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring.  

William Irvine, professor of physics, appears on Physics Girl to explain the process of creating knotted vortices, a phenomenon that occurs with airplanes during takeoff, by accelerating 3D-printed models in water. 

Margaret Gardel, professor of physics at the University of Chicago, led an innovative new study, which for the first time recreates the mechanism of cell division—outside a cell. The experiment published May 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, helps scientists understand the physics by which cells carry out their everyday activities, and could one day lead to medical breakthroughs, ideas for new kinds of materials or even artificial cells. 

Dam T. Son, University Professor in the Department of Physics, and Michael Levin, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics, have been awarded a Simons Foundation grant as part of the newly established Simons Collaboration on Ultra-Quantum Matter.

Assistant Professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences, Maureen Coleman, and microbiologist Sean Crosson use water samples from Lake Michigan to study the genes of model microbes in their natural habitats.

A study by University of Chicago chemists offers a new approach that could significantly cut the time and effort needed to make molecules that are important for pharmaceuticals in half.

UChicago astrophysicist Daniel Holz discusses the recent detection of gravitational waves that astronomers believe was created when a black hole swallowed a neutron star on WTTW .

Bryan Dickinson, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, has been named a 2019 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar for chemical and evolutionary approaches to probe and control biology.