News: Faculty

New institute will be an international hub focused on fundamental questions.

Image of a developing fruit fly eye courtesy of R. Carthew

A Forbes article announces that UChicago has received a $15.5 million grant from the NSF to launch the NSF Physics Frontiers Center for Living Systems. Prof. Margaret Gardel, who will lead the center, says, "we aim to establish a new field of physics that focuses on how living matter adapts to its environment on timescales ranging from milliseconds to billions of years.”

Chuan He, who was shortlisted last month for the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year, has been named the 2023 laureate for Life Sciences.

Center aims to establish a new field of physics to understand adaptation in living matter.

Computer scientist Bo Li outlines the path to safe self-driving cars, saying, "First of all, rigorous standardized testing is very important...there's no standardized testing yet," and adding that "we need to have various components to work together with a car, for instance, adding the traffic rules as a logical knowledge database, or adding the regulations so that the cars have not a single model."

XRISM satellite launches to study the universe in different colors of X-rays.

Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Congratulations to...
Viresh Rawal: ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Guangbin Dong: Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator
Mark Levin: Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award

Congratulations to Prof. Marcela Carena, Prof. Wendy Freedman, and Dean of the Physical Sciences Division Angela Olinto! The three PSD scientists have been named Notable Women in STEM by Crain's Chicago Business.

"Quantum chemistry, a field that delves into the behavior and interactions of molecules and atoms at the quantum level, holds the key to unlocking a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of our universe. By exploring the intricate world of quantum mechanics, scientists can make groundbreaking discoveries that have far-reaching implications in various scientific disciplines. One of these researchers is Dr. Laura Gagliardi, a chemistry and molecular engineering professor at the University of Chicago."

Read the rest at Inside Quantum Technology News.

UChicago scholars--including PSD scientists Daniel Holz, Fred Ciesla, Robert Rosner, David Jablonski, and Elisabeth Moyer--contemplate the end of the world for an article in The Core, the College's alumni magazine.

In a NYT article, Prof. John Carlstrom comments on the Simons Observatory, saying that “as with any big project, it has many gates to get through before the construction funding is secure.”

Photo courtesy of UC San Diego

New method from UChicago chemists, including Philippe Guyot-Sionnest, could lead to cost-effective sensors.

Photo by Jean Lachat

Smithsonian Magazine article mentions the efforts of former UChicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins and Nobel Prize–winning chemist Harold Urey to convince the public to support global nuclear weapons control.

Photo: Researcher Cesare Emiliani and Harold Urey (right) in a lab. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-08449

Elsevier and the Board of Executive Editors of Elsevier’s Tetrahedron journal series are pleased to announce that the 2023 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry has been awarded to Professor Chuan He, Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Photo by Jason Smith

A team of University of Chicago scientists led by chemist Weixin Tang has created new CRISPR systems that are smaller and can easily slip into cells—yet retain their potency.

Photo by Jason Smith