News: Faculty

2021

Data scientists aim to detect internet censorship in real time

November 10, 2021

An illustration of a person in front of a computer with traffic signs floating above the desk, to demonstrate Internet censorship

A new multi-institutional study led by University of Chicago Prof. Nick Feamster will build new AI and data science tools to monitor and detect internet censorship, develop new statistical techniques to identify censorship with greater levels of confidence, and ultimately create a “weather map” for certain types of nation-state interference and control of online information.


Astrophysicists unveil glut of gravitational-wave detections

November 9, 2021

black holes merge

Professor Daniel Holz, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, comments on the latest bounty of 35 events reported via gravitational wave detections, including patterns in black hole mergers.


Prof. David Awschalom discusses the quantum revolution on NPR

November 5, 2021

David Awschalom

Prof. David Awschalom discusses the quantum revolution on WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago prior to the opening of the fourth annual Chicago Quantum Summit.


Prof. Laura Gagliardi, Department of Chemistry, elected Foreign Member of the Italian National Academy

November 4, 2021

Laura Gagliardi

Laura Gagliardi, the Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been elected Foreign Member of the Italian National Academy, called Academia Nazionale Dei Lincei. This is an august body of scholars, whose Vice-President is Giorgio Parisi, recipient of the recent Nobel in physics.


Asst. Prof. Blase Ur comments on Facebook rebranding as Meta to emphasize ‘metaverse’ vision

November 4, 2021

A still of Blase Ur on WTTW television Chicago Tonight

Asst. Prof. Blase Ur, Department of Computer Science, discusses the meaning of the ‘metaverse’ on WTTW, in light of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebranding his company as Meta in an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future — what Zuckerberg calls the 'metaverse.'


Using chemistry to extract water from the air, even in the desert

November 3, 2021

Desert scene

Laura Gagliardi, the Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor in chemistry, and a team of scientists developed a device to extract water out of air. The breakthrough can work even in dry climates like deserts, and could have implications for water shortages associated with climate change.


Scientists are one step closer to error-correcting quantum computers

November 2, 2021

David Schuster with a quantum device

Prof. David Schuster, Department of Physics, comments on why demonstrating quantum error correction is a necessity for building useful quantum computers.


Technique opens ‘new window’ to understanding planets in other solar systems

October 29, 2021

An artist’s concept of a planet in another solar system that is as large as Jupiter, but close enough to its sun to be very hot.

An international team of scientists using the Gemini Observatory telescope in Chile has found a way to measure the amount of both water and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of a planet in another solar system, roughly 340 light years away.


PSD in the News - October 2021

October 28, 2021

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to create materials that can move and block heat, use a massive accelerator to analyze dust from an asteroid, and build wearable devices for signing ASL and playing piano.


MicroBooNE’s new findings provide clues on longtime mystery in neutrino physics

October 27, 2021

A scientist stands inside the tunnel chamber of MicroBooNE neutrino detector at Fermi National Lab

Four complementary analyses released by the international MicroBooNE collaboration at Fermi National Laboratory show the same thing: no sign of the theoretical particle known as the sterile neutrino. Instead, the results align with the Standard Model of Particle Physics prediction: there are only three kinds of neutrinos.


Two PSD members honored in Spring 2022 APS Prizes and Awards

October 25, 2021

Giulia Galli, Philip (Bo) Hammer

Two members of the Physical Sciences Division are among those who will be honored in the American Physical Society’s Spring 2022 Prizes and Awards. IMSI Director Phillip (Bo) Hammer was recognized as part of the TEAM-UP Task Force for the 2022 Excellence in Physics Education Award. Prof. Giulia Galli of molecular engineering and chemistry was recognized with the 2022 Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics.


Scientists find strange black ‘superionic ice’ that could exist inside other planets

October 25, 2021

Scientists using diamonds and an X-Ray beam to recreate the conditions deep inside planets

Vitali Prakapenka, Research Professor with Center for Advanced Radiation Sources (CARS), GSECARS, is among a group of beamline scientists who have seen a new state of matter at high temperature and pressure called superionic ice. With the help of several powerful tools, they have found a way to reliably create, sustain, and examine the ice, which will inform new understandings of planetary formation.


Quantum biosensing: medicine at the smallest scales

October 22, 2021

illustration of photons entering a molecule to demonstrate a system for biosensing

Chemistry professor and director of the new QuBBE initiative, Greg Engel, explains the convergence between the sensitivity that is possible with quantum measurement and the absolute need in biology to understand things on exactly these scales, a combination that makes quantum biosensing the frontier of biological measurements.


UChicago-led research team develops “blueprint” for quantum materials

October 21, 2021

A University of Chicago-led research team has written a blueprint on a special class of qubit materials. Their work is featured on the cover of Nature Reviews Materials this month.

Researchers at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and institutions in Japan, Korea, and Hungary published a blueprint for a class of materials that is quickly emerging as an important player in quantum science: crystals with defects.


2-D room-temperature magnets could unlock quantum computing

October 21, 2021

An illustration of a man waving a banner

Prof. David Awschalom of physics comments on the big obstacles to creating commercial spintronic devices or shrinking conventional data storage.