News: Faculty

2024

What astronomers are learning from the James Webb Space Telescope

January 3, 2024

Jacob Bean

In a WBEZ Morning Edition audio segment, astrophysicist Jacob Bean discusses the initial research frenzy following the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope and the process of settling into a reasonable pace.


How to create a black hole out of thin air

January 3, 2024

Daniel Holz

In a NYT article, astrophysicist Daniel Holz discusses new research that shows black holes may form in different ways than expected.


CS Assistant Professor Robert Rand receives Air Force Young Investigator Grant

January 3, 2024

Robert Rand

The three-year, $450,000 grant will fund Rand’s work on formal verification of the ZX-calculus, a graphical system for representing quantum programs.


Fermilab’s ‘muon shot’ could see suburban lab become site of revolutionary particle collider

January 3, 2024

Prof. Abigail Vieregg discusses the possible construction of a new particle collider, one more powerful than any ever created, at Fermilab.

Photo by Ryan Postel / Fermilab


2023

UChicago scientists innovate ‘hook and slide’ method to improve drug discovery

December 20, 2023

Image of fish hooks hanging against white background

UChicago scientists have developed a new "hook and slide" method where they can insert atoms within an already existing carbon framework. The innovation comes from a paper recently published in Science, by Rui Zhang, a fifth-year graduate student with the Guangbin Dong Lab. This new strategy developed by Zhang, with assistance from undergraduate Tingting Yu, promises to optimize medicinal chemistry.

Image by Skrypnykov Dmytro/Shutterstock


New technique could make modeling molecules much easier

December 15, 2023

Daniel Gibney (left) and David Mazziotti

Chemists Daniel Gibney, David Mazziotti, and Jan-Niklas Boyn invented a new way to allow computers to simulate certain quantum mechanical effects in complex electronic materials with far less effort.


What to read and watch over winter break 2023

December 14, 2023

Black and white photo of a student reading on a couch

UChicago teaching award winners, including Michael Gladders, ​​Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Quantrell Award winner, share their selections for the holidays.


Their budget already stretched near bursting, U.S. particle physicists dream small

December 14, 2023

Excavation for the huge Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment's detector in South Dakota

Prof. John Carlstrom discusses funding for CMB-S4, which, he says, would scrutinize the cosmic microwave background for evidence that the newborn universe underwent an exponential growth spurt called inflation.


Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs measure lifting Illinois’ moratorium on new nuclear power plants

December 14, 2023

Robert Rosner

Of a moratorium on building nuclear power plants in Illinois coming to an end, Prof. Robert Rosner says in a Chicago Tribune article, "There’s no one waiting here to start building a nuclear power plant as soon as the law changes."


Committee lays out research priorities for future of U.S. particle physics

December 11, 2023

A technician works on PIP-II at Fermilab—part of Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

P5 report includes UChicago, Fermilab experiments to study neutrinos, cosmic microwave background.


UChicago, NCAR research suggests world will see ‘record-breaking’ winds

December 8, 2023

Image of the globe with the Western Hemisphere Eurasian continent facing front, with colored bands to indicate jet streams moving across the surface of the Earth

Jet streams circulate around the world. A new study by GS Prof. Tiffany Shaw and National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Osamu Miyawaki finds fast jet stream winds (those in dark red in the figure) will get even faster over time as climate change accelerates.


Nutrient found in meat and dairy improves immune response to cancer

December 7, 2023

An electron microscope image showing a cancer cell (white) being attacked by two T cells (colored red for reference).

Research by UChicago scientists, including Chemistry Prof. Chuan He, suggests that the nutrient called TVA could have potential as a nutritional supplement to complement clinical treatments for cancer.


Together lands $102.5M investment to grow its cloud for training generative AI

December 6, 2023

Cloud Computing Concept with Digital Cloud and IT Icons

Together, a startup co-founded by CS Assoc. Prof. Ce Zhang creating open-source generative AI and AI model development infrastructure, announced that it closed a $102.5 million Series A funding round.


UChicago Explainer Series: Cosmic rays

December 5, 2023

illustration of cosmic rays

Scientists are fascinated by cosmic rays because they can tell us about space—where they came from and what they encountered along the way—as well as the makeup of the galaxy and the universe. Read the UChicago Explainer Series to learn all about cosmic rays.


New understanding of oobleck-like fluids contributes to smart material design

December 1, 2023

image of ripples in water

Research led by postdoctoral scholar Hojin Kim, Prof. Stuart Rowan in Chemistry and PME, and Prof. Heinrich Jaeger in Physics and JFI on the science behind non-Newtonian fluids could lead to applications ranging from clump-free paint to wearable protective gear.