2022
Women’s History Month spotlight: Meteorologist Bernice Ackerman
March 14, 2022

For Women’s History Month, The Washington Post profiles prominent women in atmospheric science history and includes Bernice Ackerman who received a bachelor's, master's, and PhD from UChicago between 1948 and 1965.
Fifth-year physics student wins MRSEC Science Slam
March 11, 2022

Fifth-year physics graduate student, Savannah Gowen, of Prof. Sidney Nagel's lab, won the NSF MRSEC Science Slam with a short film presentation on training gluten in dough.
Argonne and DOE programs guide physics student Buduka Ogonor’s pathway into scientific career
March 9, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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 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.