News: Research

Amid a tumultuous year in which many pivoted to COVID-19 research, University of Chicago scholars and scientists have also been hard at work continuing to understand the planet and the universe we live in, to improve our lives, and to build a future that’s clean, safe and sustainable.

New study helps pinpoint when Earth’s tectonic plates began—rocks tell story of planet’s transition from alien landscape to continents, oceans and life

Chunxiao Song, PhD'13, co-founded a biotech startup that was recently acquired by Exact Sciences for $410 million. The startup company sequences genetic and epigenetic data to detect early-stage cancer.

In this unprecedented year of news, fifteen PSD-related stories on the UChicago News site garnered over 4,000 views according to Google analytics. The vital role of the PSD response to the pandemic is represented alongside coverage of the University’s appointment of its first woman provost and breakthroughs in field-defining research. Here, ranked by highest readership, are the top stories covering PSD news and research for 2020.

The Physical Sciences Division of the University of Chicago has selected 20 PhD students in the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, and Astronomy & Astrophysics as the 2020–21 Radix Trading Fellows.

Geophysical Sciences Professor Elisabeth Moyer discusses her work on the Research Computing Center's U.S. Energy History Visualization in the Atlantic. It is an interactive Sankey diagram of energy transitions.

Geophysical Sciences Prof. Fred Ciesla comments on asteroid dust from Hayabusa2 solving a mystery of planet creation

Astronomer Andrea Ghez on the responsibility that comes with a Nobel Prize. Honored for black hole discovery, Laboratory Schools alum becomes ‘spokesperson for science’

Nine current and former University of Chicago Physical Science Division scientists were named in Web of Science's 2020 report of highly cited researchers. Researchers on the list have demonstrated significant and broad influence in the past decade, with highly cited papers ranking in the top 1% by citation for a chosen field or fields.

CS student, Tyler Skluzacek, invented a vibrating smartwatch to stop nightmares affecting combat veterans. Now it has been given FDA approval as a therapeutic device

Professor of Chemistry Wenbin Lin co-led a new study that uses a nanotechology to provide hope for personalized ‘vaccination’ to treat cancer

Five UChicago scientists named 2020 AAAS fellows, with pioneering PSD scientists Laura Gagliardi, John Carlstrom, and Yamuna Krishnan attaining recognition

The third annual Chicago Quantum Summit, hosted virtually at the University of Chicago Nov. 11-13 by the Chicago Quantum Exchange, brought together more than 20 speakers from across the nation and attracted more than 1,000 attendees from 42 countries

This Autumn Quarter an alternate reality game created by an interdisciplinary group of UChicago researchers gathered 70 teams of students—and helped keep them safe. Culminating in an Oct. 30 livestream, the ECHO game brought together students and other members of the UChicago community through weeks of collaborative play

New ‘Expand Your Perspective’ podcast features PSD grad students studying space and the universe: ranging from exoplanets to galaxies to black holes. With Nora Bailey (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Gourav Khullar (Astronomy & Astrophysics), and Gautam Satishchandran (Physics)