News: Faculty

Roland Winston, formerly chair of the UChicago Department of Physics, will be retiring from UC Merced this summer at age 86. Winston is a pioneer of efficiently harnessing solar radiation as an energy source. He was a student and faculty member in PSD from 1952 until 2003.

The standard model describes everything scientists have seen at particle colliders so far. Prof. Juan Collar comments on experimental particle physics and the uncertainty of the search beyond the standard model.

UChicago geochemists Nicolas Dauphas, Andrew Davis, and Reika Yokochi are part of a team assembled to help Japanese researchers analyze samples from asteroid Ryugu collected by Hayabusa2. The pristine rock is similar to a class of meteorites known as “Ivuna-type carbonaceous chondrites” and are thought to date back to the very beginnings of the solar system.

UChicago scientists invented an entirely new way to make a solar cell: by etching holes in the top layer to make it porous. The innovation could form the basis for a less-invasive pacemaker, or similar medical devices.

Prof. Guangbin Dong has been named a 2022 Blavatnik National Awards Finalist in Chemistry. From the group of 31 finalists, three winners—in life sciences, chemistry, and physical sciences & engineering—will be named on June 29. The honorees were chosen from a highly competitive pool of 309 nominees from 150 leading universities and scientific institutions from 38 states across the United States.

UChicago Chancellor Robert Zimmer was awarded Harvard University’s 2022 Centennial Medal for his superlative leadership of one of the world’s finest universities, and for his principled advocacy for the core mission and values of higher education on the national and global stage.

Watch the recording of Prof. Wendy Freedman's 2022 Convocation address to the graduates at the all campus celebration that took place June 4, 2022.

Read this interview of Chair of the Department of Physics Young-Kee Kim by David Zierler, the oral historian for the American Institute of Physics, on January 5, 2021.

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to capture the first image of the Milky Way's massive black hole, map the digital divide affecting connectivity across the country, and use computer simulations to understand the world's deadliest viruses.

The American Astronomical Society has announced that it will present its 2022 George Van Biesbroeck Prize to Donald G. York, the Horace B. Horton Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College. The award is presented biannually and honors a living individual for long-term extraordinary or unselfish service to astronomy.

Chemistry Prof. Giulia Galli and scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago performed quantum simulations of spin defects — impurities in materials that could offer a promising basis for new quantum technologies — and improved the accuracy of calculations on quantum computers.

Ian Bongalonta, an instructor for Honors General Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, has been awarded the Wayne C. Booth Prize. Trevor Hyde, a Dickson Instructor in the Department of Mathematics who recently taught Algebraic Number Theory, has been awarded a Glenn and Claire Swogger Award. 

Professor and Chair of Chemistry Viresh Rawal has earned the E.C. Taylor Senior Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry. The honor is bestowed once every two years to a true leader in the field. Rawal will deliver an award lecture at the Biennial International Society of Chemistry (ISHC) Congress.

Assoc. Prof. David Schmitz was awarded a 2022 Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award. Prof. Chuan He and Prof. Wei Biao Wu were awarded the Faculty Awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring.

A new study led by geophysical scientist Edwin Kite examines the tracks of Martian rivers to see what they can reveal about the history of the planet’s water and atmosphere.