News: Students

Saturdays with CSIL (Computer Science Instructional Laboratory) focuses on exposing Chicago Public School high school students to computer science at an introductory level, as some CPS students have limited access to CS classes.

Fourth-year PhD student Kelly Wagman, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and the Greater Chatham Initiative, develops a community-based app that bridges the gap between the residents’ and the scientists’ needs for flood-reporting resources and data.

When mixing disciplines, there are some subjects that are much more readily paired—psychology and biology or visual arts and photography. However, one physical science course at the University of Chicago seeks to combine three subjects that aren’t a natural fit on the surface. “The Chemistry of Artists' Materials,” taught by Assistant Instructional Professor Hannah Lant, blends together art, history and science.

On Saturday, November 16, the University of Chicago Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE UChicago) hosted the SHPE Chicagoland Día de Ciencias at the William Eckhardt Research Center. The STEM outreach event aimed to inspire Hispanic students and their families through hands-on learning, mentorship, and practical resources for academic success.

Abigail Poteshman, a fifth-year PhD student in the Committee on Computational and Applied Mathematics, conducts research in method development for modeling and characterizing quantum materials, such as ferroelectrics and spin-defects in semiconductors.

Chiza Mwinde, a fifth-year PhD student in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences, focuses on measuring element variations in evaporite minerals, which helps reconstruct factors like the pH and elemental composition of ancient seawater.

Jihee You, a first-year PhD student in Data Science, studies topics related to machine learning—specifically, explainable AI and graph neural networks.

Graduate student Sam Marsden is working on creating a new form of polymer that will be as strong as polyethylene but as recyclable as PET. Mardsen is currently part of the Rowan Group, which focuses on supramolecular chemistry research.

An exchange program between Chicago and Taiwan helps students gain cultural and research experience.

At the 2024 South Side Science Festival, UChicago researchers bring their work out from behind the scenes for the public to experience. Through demos, the hope is to spark interest in young minds to pursue work in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Zewei Liao, Michael Rosenbaum, Brennan Schaffner, Lennart Maximilian Seifert, and Shawn Shan were selected to the prestigious program’s Class of 2025.

A new master’s program in environmental science at the University of Chicago will provide students with the foundational quantitative and data science skills needed across a wide range of environmental science disciplines, as well as the opportunity to specialize in areas such as climate science, biogeochemistry, ecology, and oceanography.
 

Shawn Shan, a PhD student in computer science, was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 2024 Innovators Under 35. Shan helped create Glaze and Nightshade, tools that allow artists to protect their work from AI scraping.

In a new paper, a UChicago PME-led team of researchers from UChicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and University of Illinois Chicago used defect-embedded colloidal nanocrystals to create a perfect mixture of tiny solids in solution, which presents a better way to integrate quantum technologies. 

Tong Lan, a graduate student with the Bryan Dickinson lab, is first author of a new paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that presents breakthrough research on covalent macrocyclic peptides. This work is essential for the development of more effective and targeted cancer treatments.