News: Faculty

At the 2024 South Side Science Festival, UChicago researchers bring their work out from behind the scenes for the public to experience. Through demos, the hope is to spark interest in young minds to pursue work in science, technology, engineering, and math.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation announced today the 2024 class of Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering, including UChicago assistant professor of physics Zoe Yan. This year’s class features 20 innovative early-career scientists and engineers who will each receive $875,000 over five years to pursue their research. This year’s class of Fellows is pushing the boundaries of science and innovation in their fields of study, from advances in detecting and treating serious diseases to understanding how species react to changing climates to energy-efficient electronics. 

In July 2024, Meghana Ranganathan joined the University of Chicago as an assistant professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences. Meghana, who grew up in Dallas, Texas, was previously a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, working in their Ice + Climate Group led by Dr. Alexander Robel. The focus of her work was uncovering couplings between brittle and ductile behaviors of ice and their implications for ice sheet change. During that time, she spent three months doing fieldwork in Antarctica. We interviewed Meghana about her interests and experiences.

The University of Chicago, Chicago State University, and the University of Illinois Chicago received a $4.8 million grant from the NIH BRAIN Initiative to build a faster microscope for mapping all the connections in the brain.

In a new episode of the Big Brains podcast, Prof. Wendy Freedman explains the conflicting research surrounding the Hubble constant and the Standard Model of physics.

UChicago researchers have discovered how a key gene involved in cancer works—which both suggests new treatment options and furthers our understanding of gene expression itself.

In a major breakthrough, scientists have spotted elusive neutrinos for the first time using the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). UChicago Prof. David Schmitz commented on the significant impact of this research.

In a new paper, researchers from the Departments of Computer Science and Political Science and the Harris School of Public Policy collaborated to show how Trump’s use of language is truly distinctive.

In this new edition of the Explainer Series, learn about dark energy and how UChicago scholars have pioneered research in this field, starting with UChicago astrophysicist Michael Turner, who coined the term in 1998, all the way to current groundbreaking research.

Entrepreneurs are exploring the potential of using pollutants to combat climate change. In response, scientists are expanding research into stratospheric solar geoengineering, with UChicago recently launching an ambitious new program.

Among the projects seeking to expand the reach of quantum technology research, the Chicago Quantum Exchange stands out. In this interview, UChicago's David Awschalom, founding director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, talks about the origins of this project and its ambitions to position Chicago at the forefront of quantum technology.

A new study co-authored by UChicago Assistant Prof. Harley Katz uncovered a galaxy from the early universe where gas may shine brighter than its stars. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists found that this galaxy may help explain how the first stars and galaxies formed.

Physicists at CERN report the first observations of quantum entanglement in quarks. A key contributor to this discovery was UChicago physicist Yoav Afik, who helped develop a method to measure entanglement in top quarks.

Computer Science Asst. Prof. Raul Castro Fernandez and Law School Asst. Prof. Bridget Fahey are developing a new field of cross-disciplinary study on what they call “data ecology.”

A state law in California will require companies to develop technology by 2026 to distinguish between real images and AI-generated fakes. UChicago Assistant Professor Aloni Cohen, an expert in AI watermarking, comments on the feasibility of these technologies.