News: Students

2022

Argonne and DOE programs guide physics student Buduka Ogonor’s pathway into scientific career

March 9, 2022

Buduka Ogonor

Over the past year, fourth-year physics student Buduka Ogonor has participated in both Argonne National Laboratory’s Mini Semester and the DOE’s Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program in his pursuit of a career in STEM. “I want to focus on the intersection between artificial intelligence and machine learning in physics, because that’s what my project at Argonne centered around,” he said.


Scratching the surface: Regional research groups explore winter conditions of Green Bay, Great Lakes

March 1, 2022

Researchers lugging equipment on frozen Green Bay

Students and researchers in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences participated in the recently launched “Winter Grab,” a first of its kind, week-long collection event for regional researchers studying Great Lakes’ winter conditions.


Local nuclear reactor helps UChicago scientists catch and study neutrinos

February 28, 2022

Mark Lewis

A nuclear reactor at an Illinois energy plant is helping University of Chicago scientists learn how to catch and understand the tiny, elusive particles known as neutrinos. Prof. Juan Collar said, “This is the closest that neutrino physicists have been able to get to a commercial reactor core.”


How an alum’s invention helped propel the U.S. space race

February 28, 2022

Reatha Clark King

Chemist Reatha Clark King, SM’60, PhD’63, invented a coiled tube that allowed fuel to cool instead of exploding, a crucial advance in the space race. She is also the lead author of a 1967 paper on oxygen difluoride—considered as a key component of rocket fuel and has since become a standard ingredient. Following her years in the laboratory, she was a college president, led the General Mills Foundation, and is an emeritus trustee of UChicago.


In the News – February 2022

February 24, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to read out a qubit on demand and set a record for preserving quantum states for more than five seconds, to revolutionize the field of 2D materials with a technique to cut and stack fragile sheets of nanomaterials, and to demonstrate ultracold atoms can segregate into separate domain states.


Remembering Moddie Taylor, a Black scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project

February 23, 2022

Moddie D. Taylor

More than a dozen Black scientists made key contributions to the Manhattan Project but their stories have often been overlooked. One of them was Moddie Taylor, SM’39, PhD’43, who worked in the Metallurgical Laboratory—the arm of the Manhattan Project based at UChicago—and went on to lead Howard University chemistry.


If we ever travel to another star, we’re going here

February 22, 2022

NASA photo of the sun emanating light rays in four directions

Exoplanet researcher and astronomy and astrophysics student, Emily Gilbert, comments on the identification of Proxima d, another planet around Proxima Centauri, the sun’s closest neighbor.


Geophysical scientists invited onto NASA’s Curiosity rover mission as participating scientists, will choose targets for three year period

February 21, 2022

NASA has selected University of Chicago associate professor of geophysical sciences, Edwin Kite, to join the Mars Curiosity rover mission as a participating scientist. Kite, along with fourth-year Ph.D. student Sasha Warren, hopes to expand the rover science team’s understanding of climate history on Mars.


Meet mathematics student, Colin Aitken

February 18, 2022

Colin Aitken

Colin Aitken was born and brought up in San Jose, California. Before coming to the University of Chicago, he was at MIT where he studied math and performed in the Shakespeare Ensemble. He has been a graduate student at UChicago for five years in the Department of Mathematics, though he sometimes hangs out in the Department of Economics. His field of study is algebraic topology.


‘Science as Art’ contest calls for your images from UChicago research

February 14, 2022

A gloved hand holds tweezers gripping a photo depicting the UChicago Phoenix Shield.

University Communications invites all members of the UChicago community to submit images from their scientific research for a “Science as Art” contest. The deadline to enter is March 15.


UChicago scientists create strange quantum ‘domain walls’ in laboratory

February 8, 2022

Image of a quantum phenomenon known as a

Prof. Cheng Chin’s lab has been able to create a new kind of quantum object at will in the laboratory: “domain walls.” At extremely low temperatures, groups of atoms can segregate into domains, and a “wall” forms at the junction where they met.


UChicago researchers set record by preserving quantum states for more than five seconds

February 3, 2022

Two students in a quantum tech research lab build hardware

A team led by Prof. David Awschalom of physics has achieved two major breakthroughs to overcome common “coherence” challenges for quantum systems: They were able to read out their qubit on demand, and then keep the quantum state intact for over five seconds—a new record for this class of devices. Additionally, the researchers’ qubits are made from an easy-to-use material called silicon carbide, which is widely found in lightbulbs, electric vehicles, and high-voltage electronics.


Robot-aided assembly could help scientists speed pace of discovery for new technologies

February 2, 2022

A conceptual rendition of “robots” stacking thin films on an assembly line.

A new technique in the field of 2D materials led by Dept. of Chemistry and PME Prof. Jiwoong Park cuts fragile sheets of nanomaterials and uses a robotic hand to stack them in layers that can demonstrate targeted interactions. The automation can be customized and optimized.


PSD Polsky Fall 2021 I-Corps teams tackle unmet medical needs, data transparency

January 28, 2022

UChicago members at a tech transfer reception

An open data platform journalists check, ordering an accurate 3D printed model of your tumor, or cardiac pacing solutions based on light in semiconductors. Market innovations born in PSD labs get tackled by cross campus expertise.


In the News - January 2022

January 27, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to mitigate the noise problem on quantum computers, to use doppler calculations to make a new map of twelve streams of stars orbiting our galactic halo, and to improve control over vacancies in silicon carbide used for quantum devices.