News: Faculty

Professor Hank Hoffmann has been appointed Chair for the Department of Computer Science beginning September 1, 2023. He will continue to serve over the next three years, building on the work laid out by the department’s current Liew Family Chair, Mike Franklin. In response to the announcement, Franklin wrote that he “couldn’t be more pleased about this choice.”

Melvin Gordon Rothenberg, a professor emeritus of mathematics who spent more than four decades making groundbreaking mathematical discoveries at the University of Chicago as well as teaching hundreds of students and contributing to social justice causes, died August 1, 2023. He was 89.

A design by UChicago researchers, including chemist Bozhi Tian, makes stable, suture-free medical monitoring in the body possible.

Crain's Chicago Business article discusses the importance of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, project at Fermilab, notes its ties to UChicago, and includes comments from physicist Ed Blucher about the neutrino: “There are trillions per second going through your body for your whole life but almost never interact with you—which is what makes it great to study.”

Photo by Reidar Hahn

Hyde Park Herald memorializes Prof. Emeritus of Mathematics Melvin Gordon Rothenberg.

An Axios article highlights computer scientist Ben Zhao's tool "Glaze."

In an Axios article, computer science professor Rick Stevens says, "We're trying to move beyond...an [AI] that is trained on a dataset and makes a prediction on that dataset."

In Q&A, Geophysical Sciences professor Nicolas Dauphas discusses what we can learn from the mission to Phobos.

In a Scientific American article, Physics professor Cheng Chin discusses his research which led to the first-ever observation of 'quantum superchemistry.'

Geophysical sciences professor Noboru Nakamura says in a Crain's Chicago Business article that "if 110-degree temperatures are expected, then definitely we should look out for some major heat-related stress for the general public, but I don't think that's going to happen...nevertheless, I think it's going to be pretty warm and uncomfortable."

A Phys.org article announces that UChicago researchers led by astronomy postdoc Michael Zhang have reported the detection of a helium outflow from the atmosphere of a nearby mini-Neptune exoplanet known as TOI-2134 b.

UChicago paleontologist David Jablonski receives Darwin-Wallace Medal for unique approach to evolution, extinction studies.

Photo by Jean Lachat

In a CNN article, computer scientist Ben Zhao discusses his tool to protect the work of artists from AI, Glaze, saying "entire, multiple, human creative industries are under threat to be replaced by automated machines."

An Atlantic article highlights research by geophysical sciences professor Susan Kidwell finding that runoff from overgrazed, eroding soil most likely smothered the hard surfaces brachiopods needed, resulting in the local extinction of an entire ecosystem.

Scientists at the University of Chicago, including chemist Jiwoong Park, found a glass crystal just a few atoms thick can trap and carry light—and could be used for applications.

Photo by Jean Lachat