News: Faculty

2022

The Southern Hemisphere is stormier than the Northern, and we finally know why

December 6, 2022

A new study led by climate scientist Tiffany Shaw explains the Southern Hemisphere is stormier than the Northern, by about 24%, and asymmetry has increased since the 1980’s. Ocean circulation and the large mountain ranges in the Northern Hemisphere are the culprits.


Drawing on research: Chemist Bozhi Tian’s art and science recast reality

December 1, 2022

artwork by Bozhi Tian. Composite of a harbor scene and nanotechnology.

Dept. of Chemistry Prof. Bozhi Tian’s artwork melds "scenes of nature with hints of technology, much as his research merges biological and synthetic systems." Read more about his artwork and research in UChicago Magazine.


Dr. Bryan Dickinson wins the 2022 ACS Chemical Biology Young Investigator Award

December 1, 2022

Bryan Dickinson

Assoc. Prof. Bryan Dickinson, Dept. of Chemistry, was awarded the ACS Chemical Biology Young Investigator Award. He was cited for his novel means to perturb, probe, or control numerous important biological regulatory programs spanning from the lipid signaling to epitranscriptome and RNA targeting.


UChicago receives $10 million for new Pritzker Plant Biology Center

November 30, 2022

Guanqun Wang and Haoxuan Li in a greenhouse

A $10m gift to UChicago from the Margot and Tom Pritzker Foundation will establish the Pritzker Plant Biology Center on the University’s Hyde Park campus. It will be led by Prof. Chuan He, Dept. of Chemistry, and will bolster efforts in investigating pathways promoting plant growth and crop yields to combat global problems like food supply, drought, and climate change.


PSD in the News - November 2022

November 29, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD reserachers were featured in the news for their efforts to create an 'artificial photosynthesis' system, advance nanoparticle research to fight cancer, and describe cloudy atmospheres on explanets with the James Webb Space telescope.


The computing pipeline: a foundation for diversifying computer science

November 29, 2022

Students raise their hands in a high school computer science careers program

The Broadening Participation in Computing program at the University of Chicago provides students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to get involved with computer science in a way that keeps them continually engaged from high school and beyond.


Trending now: How Netflix chills our free will

November 29, 2022

hands navigating Netflix on a tablet

A group of researchers from the Amyoli Internet Research Lab (AIR Lab) led by Asst. Prof. Marshini Chetty of computer science conducted a study to investigate how certain Netflix features quietly undermine our agency and keep us watching curated content longer.


UChicago CS research finds new angle on database query processing with geometry

November 21, 2022

Sanjay Krishnan

A new paper from the research group of UChicago CS assistant professor Sanjay Krishnan caps three years of research on how computational geometry can make approximate query processing more efficient.


Nine PSD members named Highly Cited Researchers

November 15, 2022

PSD in white against a maroon background

The Highly Cited Researchers™ list from Clarivate™ identifies scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated significant influence through publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Ten PSD members made the 2022 list.


Chemists create an ‘artificial photosynthesis’ system that is 10 times more efficient than existing systems

November 10, 2022

Illustration of artificial photosynthesis happening in a leaf

A new study from six UChicago chemists shows an innovative new system for artificial photosynthesis that is more productive than previous artificial systems by an order of magnitude and could produce ethanol, methane, or other fuels.


A slime mold turns your smartwatch into a living Tamagotchi

November 10, 2022

A wrist and hand sporting an experimental device called at Slime Mold Smart Watch, with a close up of living slime housed in the watch.

What if your ‘90’s Tamagotchi pet wasn’t digital? What if your devices were really alive, at least a little bit, and you had to care for them in order for them to work? These are the questions grad student Jasmine Lu and Assoc. Prof. Pedro Lopes of UChicago Computer Science set out to answer with their Slime Mold Smart Watch.


$9.2M grant to UChicago computer scientists will improve graph analytics

November 10, 2022

Andrew A. Chien

UChicago computer scientists will lead a $9.2M grant from ARPA for the UpDown System, to speed up graph analytics. The effort will reinvent computer architecture, dramatically increasing efficiency and scalability for graph computing. Prof. Andrew Chien wil head a team including Henry Hoffmann, Yanjing Li, and Michael Maire.


2022 Chicago Quantum Summit to gather leaders defining the emerging field

November 4, 2022

quantum communication illustration

The fifth annual Chicago Quantum Summit, hosted by the Chicago Quantum Exchange, will convene academic, government, and industry leaders in quantum information science and engineering on Nov. 14-15. The public can attend on Zoom.


A massive space rock impact may have kickstarted Earth’s magnetic field

November 4, 2022

Depiction of interplanetary crash with explosion of heat and light

A new study led by Prof. Fausto Cattaneo, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, informs Earth-Moon formation theories. Through analysis of the dynamics of fluids and electrically conducting fluids, the researchers concluded that the Earth must have been magnetized either before the impact of an interplanetary collision or as a result of it. 


Scientists discover way to target ‘undruggable’ molecules involved in cancer

November 3, 2022

illustration of the structure of the molecule as it clamps onto DNA

UChicago chemist Raymond Moellering is in a group that has created an innovative way to build synthetic molecules that can target these previously “undruggable” transcription factors. The breakthrough holds promise for drugs and treatments as well as tools to better understand cancer biology.