News: Students

By reviewing large-scale weather conditions and formations before the June 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave, University of Chicago scientists, including College student first author, Emily Neal, discovered that a cyclone spawned an “anticyclone,” which combined to produce and then trap heat near the surface of the region.

The UChicago PSD has expanded a program dedicated to addressing energy use reduction throughout all facilities that have chemical fume hoods. The behavior of lowering the sash after the experiment ends, and especially when the lab closes for the night, has proven to be a tipping point on energy usage that has launched a major culture shift in the PSD. 

Using complex “multiscale” computer simulations modeling viruses, Prof. Greg Voth and his team modeled the properties in the disassembly process that causes the capsid surrounding an HIV virus to rupture as well as how SARS-CoV-2 binds and enters cells. 

A new technique published by University of Chicago chemists and the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. allows scientists to quickly and easily produce new molecules of interest, to accelerate discovery by reducing the time and energy that goes into molecule design process.

Grace Chesmore, a fifth-year PhD student in the Department of Physics, and Celeste Keith, a fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, will conduct research at Fermi National Laboratory as part of the Department of Energy's Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to find axion particles with new detector designs, advocate for paleobiology and evolutionary biology, and lead the S4 collaboration to design the next generation of telescopes detecting the light of the Cosmic Microwave Background.

Elise Hinkle was born and brought up in Sudbury, Massachusetts. This is her second year at UChicago pursuing graduate studies in physics and working with Professor Ed Blucher. She is a member of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Collaboration.

Two PSD undergraduate students, Bernadette Miao and Wilson Turner, have received Barry Goldwater Scholarships, awarded annually based on academic merit and undergraduate research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. 

Seven Physical Sciences Division students have been awarded 2022 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Each fellowship provides three years of support during a five-year fellowship period. For each of the three years of support, NSF provides a $34,000 stipend and $12,000 cost of education allowance to the University.

A UChicago College science communication course co-taught by Prof. Peggy Mason and Sara Serritella covers written, visual and hands-on methods of sharing data with the general public.

Jasmine Lu, Ziwei Liu, Jas Brooks, and Prof. Asst. Pedro Lopes of the Human Computer Integration Lab are developing a new kind of haptic feedback they've dubbed chemical haptics, applying it to five different virtual reality experiences.

The Heising-Simons Foundation today announced Michael Zhang, California Institute of Technology, Astronomy Ph.D.’22, as a recipient of the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. He is among eight fellows selected for 2022. Zhang will be joining the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics in the Fall term to study the atmospheres of planets outside the solar system.

The Physical Sciences Division has many programs ranked highly in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report top science graduate schools rankings.

Physical Sciences Division members, including an alumna, a graduate student, and undergraduates, won the first inaugural 'Science as Art' contest run by University of Chicago Communications. See their winning photos.

A new study introduces a breakthrough in making nanocrystals function together electronically. The research led by Prof. Dmitri Talapin, Department of Chemistry, may open the doors to future devices with new abilities.