News: Faculty

2021

Professor Elena Shevchenko joins Chemistry faculty

January 29, 2021

Elena Shevchenko

Professor Elena Shevchenko joins Chemistry faculty. She is recognized as one of the top scientists worldwide in the synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals and nanocrystal superlattices.


Roger Hildebrand, Manhattan Project veteran and ‘giant’ of physics and astrophysics, 1922-2021

January 27, 2021

Prof. Emeritus Roger Hillebrand

Roger Hildebrand, Manhattan Project veteran and ‘giant’ of physics and astrophysics, 1922-2021. Prof. Emeritus Hildebrand, who revolutionized sub-millimeter astronomy and the Dean of the College during the Vietnam era, died Jan. 21. He was 98.


New self-assembly method creates bioelectronics out of microscopic structures

January 27, 2021

Close up of a nanotechnology experiment for simulating human tissue interactions with the nervous system.

New self-assembly method creates bioelectronics out of microscopic structures. Scientists in Prof. Bozhi Tian’s lab use a “bottom-up” approach to yield highly customizable bioelectronics.


Cosmologist Brian Nord on his coalition of physicists and computer scientists promoting algorithmic accountability

January 26, 2021

Cosmologist Brian Nord is interviewed by Gizmodo about building a coalition of physicists and computer scientists promoting algorithmic accountability. Nord is a machine learning expert at Fermi National Laboratory who studies strong gravitational lensing and deep learning.


UChicago CS team led by Prof. Nick Feamster receives $1.2M to map the digital divide in Chicago

January 26, 2021

Nick Feamster

UChicago CS team led by Prof. Nick Feamster receives $1.2M to map the digital divide in Chicago. Grant from data.org to fund ‘moonshot’ to bring high-speed internet accessible to all


The Doomsday Clock will be unveiled again this week

January 26, 2021

The Doomsday Clock is a metaphor that represents how close humanity is to self-destruction, due to nuclear weapons and climate change. The clock hands are set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group formed by Manhattan Project scientists at the University of Chicago who helped build the atomic bomb but protested using it against people. Jan. 26 they will unveil where the hands are for 2021.


PUEO mission led by Assoc. Prof. Abigail Vieregg chosen for NASA Pioneers Program

January 26, 2021

Associate Professor Abigail Vieregg

As part of its new Pioneers Program, NASA has chosen four small-scale astrophysics missions for further concept development, including PUEO, a balloon mission led by Assoc. Prof. Abigail Vieregg, that will launch from Antarctica and detect signals from ultra-high energy neutrinos.


PSD in the News - December 2020 and January 2021

January 22, 2021

PSD in white against a maroon background

There were 39 news articles featuring Physical Sciences Division research and accomplishments in December and January. Scientists created the first computational model of the entire virus responsible for COVID-19, pioneered measurements of electricity in cells, and charted the evolution of U.S. energy consumption. Several valued members of PSD were memorialized, including a Nobel lareaute and a graduate student. See highlights below and read the full list.


Prof. Voth interviewed about the first usable computational model of the entire virus on Fox 32

January 20, 2021

Still of a news broadcast featuring an anchor and chemist Greg Voth, and below a logo for Fox 32 news

Chemist Prof. Gregory Voth was interviewed about the first usable computational model of the entire virus that is responsible for COVID-19 on Fox 32 Chicago.


NanoPattern Technologies, ReAx Biotechnologies receive $150,000 each to commercialize research

January 15, 2021

Portraits of Dmitri Talapin and Raymond Moelling, against a blue backdrop and the PSD logo

NanoPattern Technologies, co-founded by Prof. Dmitri Talapin, and ReAx Biotechnologies, founded by Asst. Prof Raymond Moellering, receive $150,000 each to commercialize research.


Prof. Benson Farb resurrects Hilbert’s 13th Problem and mines web of connections

January 15, 2021

A computer rendered illustration of two men lowering into a cave, holding ropes, surrounded by numbers

Prof. Benson Farb is among mathematicians resurrecting Hilbert’s 13th Problem. Long considered solved, David Hilbert’s question about seventh-degree polynomials is leading researchers to a new web of mathematical connections.


Dark Energy Survey releases catalog of nearly 700 million astronomical objects to the public

January 14, 2021

Image from Dark Energy Survey, astrological objects against black space

On January 14, Dark Energy Survey released a catalog of nearly 700 million astronomical objects to the public. The pioneering Fermilab-led survey, directed by Astronomy & Astrophysics Prof. Emeritus Rich Kron, covered 5,000 square degrees of the southern sky


Prof. Gladders’s undergrads discover bright lensed galaxy in the early universe

January 13, 2021

Mike Gladders Astro class in a zoom meeting, faces against the background of an image of the lensed galaxy they discovered

Prof. Gladders's undergrads discover bright lensed galaxy in the early universe


Preeminent statistician Leo Goodman, who spent 36 years in the PSD, 1928–2020

January 12, 2021

Leo Goodman

The PSD community mourns the passing of the preeminent statistician Leo Goodman, who spent 36 years in the PSD and greatly innovated social sciences research. He died at 92.


After decades of effort, scientists are finally seeing black holes—or are they?

January 8, 2021

simulation of a black hole, orange gravitational waves against black space

After decades of effort, scientists are finally seeing black holes—or are they? Gravitational theorist Prof. Robert Wald weighs in on the sudden observability of black holes.