News: Faculty

2023

PSD in the News - January 2023

January 26, 2023

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to determine why the Southern Hemisphere is stormier than the Nothern Hemisphere, explain how the HIV virus replicates itself, and gather and analyze data on the funding, location, and research status for more than 230 GMO crop varieties in Africa.


Where is physics headed (and how soon do we get there)?

January 24, 2023

Illustration of blue and red particles colliding

The New York Times interviewed the co-chairs of the national committee on Elementary Particle Physics: Progress and Promise, emeritus Professor Michael Turner, Depts. Physics and Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Maria Spiropulu, to discuss the group’s progress, the disappointments of the last 20 years and the challenges ahead.


Doomsday Clock moves closest to apocalypse than ever before, at 90 seconds to midnight

January 24, 2023

Clock with hands 90 seconds to midnight

The 2023 unveiling of the Doomsday Clock at a Jan. 24 event in Washington, D.C. showed  hands of the clock at 90 seconds to midnight. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which includes Profs. Holz and Rosner of PSD, cite ‘unprecedented danger’ amid war in Ukraine, concerns over climate change.


Tiny ion is crucial for HIV replication, say UChicago chemists

January 24, 2023

Two HIV capsules demonstrate new finding

A study by UChicago chemists has uncovered a new key step in the process that HIV uses to replicate itself. “The thought is that if we could stop the capsids from forming, or cause them to malform, we could prevent HIV from being infectious and replicating,” said senior author, Prof. Greg Voth, Dept. of Chemistry.


Prof. Ka Yee Lee named Biophysical Society Fellow

January 19, 2023

Ka Yee Lee

Prof. Ka Yee C. Lee, Dept. of Chemistry, was named a Fellow of the Biophysical Society in 2023 “for her impactful and creative contributions to our understanding of the structure and stability of lipid membranes and their interactions with proteins.”


How sleep affects human health, explained

January 19, 2023

A computer screen shows a brain sleeping

Sleep research began at UChicago, when in 1953, Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky identified REM sleep, the stage when most dreaming occurs. Today, UChicago researchers study sleep’s relationship to body weight, disease, learning, and mood.


Professor Heather Zheng named ACM Fellow

January 18, 2023

Heather Zheng

Neubauer Professor of Computer Science Heather Zheng was elected as a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), the world’s largest and most prestigious society of computing professionals, for her work in wireless networking and mobile computing.


New DSI Open Spatial Lab brings expertise to social impact organizations

January 17, 2023

Purple markers overtop an aerial map of downtown Chicago

The Open Spatial Lab (OSL), a collaboration of the Data Science Institute and the Center for Spatial Data Science, is a new hub for the tools and partnerships essential for maximizing the potential of spatial data science.


ML bias & ethics researcher Kristian Lum joins Data Science Institute

January 13, 2023

Kristian Lum

Kristian Lum has joined the DSI as a research associate professor after time at Twitter, the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, and in academia examining fairness, accountability and transparency in machine learning and its applications.


High school students find their place in computing through wearables workshop

January 13, 2023

Pedro Lopes stands with high school students holding wearable computer devices they made in his workshop

Sixteen high school students expanded their view of what computer science is by participating in a “Make Your Own Wearables From Scratch” workshop hosted by the University of Chicago.


Robert Rosner, 2023 APS President, takes the helm

January 13, 2023

Robert Rosner

An interview with theoretical physicist Prof. Robert Rosner as he becomes the American Physical Society President in 2023.


Chemist John Anderson comments as substance from chemical plant fire rains down

January 12, 2023

A firetruck extinguishes a fire at a La Salle chemical plant Jan 2023

Chemist and Assoc. Prof. John Anderson comments on the dangerous, reactive residue residents of La Salle are encountering after a chemical plant burned down.


Asst. Prof. Sarah Sebo presents robot-human interaction research to Northwestern

January 10, 2023

people listening to an academic talk

Asst. Prof. Sarah Sebo, Dept. of Computer Science, presented her research on human and robot interactions and their effect on emotions at Northwestern University.


UChicago launches Polsky Deep Tech Ventures to support startups bringing science, tech to market

January 5, 2023

Illustration of computer chips, quantum devices, and binary code

UChicago unveiled Polsky Deep Tech Ventures, a new $20m initiative offering accelerators, entrepreneurial training, and funding dedicated to supporting startups that bring world-changing science and technology to market.


Asst. Prof. Robert Rand receives Air Force Young Investigator Grant

January 4, 2023

Robert Rand

Asst. Prof. Robert Rand of computer science received a $450,000 early career grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program. The grant will fund his research on the formal verification of the ZX-calculus, a graphical system for representing quantum programs.