News: Students

Monica Para balances a full-time Data Analyst role with part-time online studies in the University of Chicago’s MS in Applied Data Science program. Her week includes office work, AI projects, evening Zoom lectures, assignments, and tech community involvement. She uses weekends for coursework and hiking, emphasizing strong time management.

​​In a Data Engineering course taught by Steve Barry, a team of Master’s in Applied Data Science students built a full end-to-end data pipeline, from raw public datasets to an interactive, AI-powered interface. The project gave students hands-on experience designing the kind of data infrastructure that underpins real-world applications, developing the technical skills.

On February 17, Univision Chicago aired a feature on Space Explorers, a signature program of UChicago’s Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics.

Yuelong Li, in his second year of the Master's Program in Computational and Applied Mathematics, focuses on the mathematics of topological insulators. We interviewed him about his experiences at UChicago.

Anand Nakhate chose the University of Chicago's FinMath program because it matched exactly what he was looking for – deep mathematical rigor combined with structured, real-world application.

Learning experiences at Argonne National Laboratory fuel the ambitions of future leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

FIfth year PhD student Soumik Ghosh was awarded the International Business Machines (IBM) PhD fellowship. The following is a Q&A that shares his background, academic journey, and what comes next for his research. 

Physics graduate student Ryohei Weil contributes to research that has verified four theoretical predictions regarding computational phases of matter. These contributions confirm the stability of quantum technology for scalability in the future. 

In December, undergraduate Ranya Sharma was honored with a 2025 CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award—one of the highest recognitions for early-career computing research in North America. The award, presented by the Computing Research Association, acknowledges Ranya’s standout contributions to understanding how digital infrastructure shapes privacy, performance, and equity across the Internet.

UChicago chemists gain insight into how a Parkinson’s-associated protein binds to membranes in the brain.

Apoorva Gupta, a second-year student in the MS in Applied Data Science program, has been learning how data science is already used in the real world in ways he never realized. We interviewed Apoorva about his experiences here.

Recommendations from UChicago award winners, including CS alum Polly Ren, SB’25, College Undergraduate Student Prize in Undergraduate Teaching winner.

In 2025, the Physical Sciences Division at the University of Chicago continued its enduring legacy of scientific discovery, translating innovation into bold impact in service of a better world. We’re thrilled to share a few of our proudest achievements.

Ava Polzin, a fourth-year PhD student in Astronomy and Astrophysics, focuses on the physical and chemical mechanisms that regulate star formation in the smallest galaxies. This sort of research provides an avenue to better understand how generations of stars like our sun formed in galaxies like the Milky Way. We interviewed her about her experiences at UChicago.

University of Chicago students Logan Hanssler and Elijah Jenkins, both fourth-years in the College, have been selected as 2026 Marshall Scholars. Each will be provided the opportunity to study in their chosen fields for two years at any university in the United Kingdom. Logan Hanssler (Astrophysics; Molecular Engineering) intends to study Optics and Photonics at Imperial College London and pursue a degree by research in Physics at Durham University.