News: Students

UChicago PhD candidate Yuke Zheng leads research on a 4.6-billion-year-old piece of rock that could reveal compounds present at the beginning of the solar system and the building blocks of life.

The Field Museum is the new temporary home to a tiny piece of pristine asteroid. The fragment of the asteroid Bennu, on loan from NASA, won't be on display for visitors, but will give scientists the chance to study an asteroid sample uncontaminated by Earth's atmosphere.

Rebecca Willett comments on the crackdown of student visas. The US says it will “aggressively revoke” Chinese student visas and has paused interviews for all student visa applicants. Experts warn the moves could weaken American leadership in STEM.
 

The Physical Sciences Division has selected three graduate students to receive a William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Students and faculty reflect upon the programs in data science and computer science, as well as how they provide real-world skills and hands-on experience in a supportive environment. 

By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians, including Frank Calegari, have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math.

MD/PhD Candidate Steven Song and collaborators Spencer Ellis and Derek Reiman designed a machine learning model able to predict non-melanoma skin cancer under resource-limited settings.
 

Daniel Sa teamed up with classmates to build a way for commuters to better anticipate public transit delays at Transit Hacks 2025. 

The DSI recognizes the earliest graduates of the MSDS program’s inaugural cohort: Faye Dai, Harper Lyu, and Lai Wei.

The prairie restoration success at Fermilab has become a living laboratory — supporting scientific research, fostering biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services like erosion control and enhanced soil health.

UChicago undergrads learn to ‘read’ the shoreline as they study coastal resilience in Susan Kidwell's class.

Huanzhou Yang's research uses simulations to determine how telescopes could detect oxygen gas and ozone, revealing clouds could aid in the detection of biosignatures. 

The Data Science Institute hosted a reception at the Smart Museum in honor of this year’s graduating class of data science majors.
 

A wrist-mounted camera and tactile feedback system from the Human-Computer Integration Lab redefines sensory substitution, helping users "see" through their hands for real-world object exploration and accessibility.
 

Astrophysics PhD student Ritvik Basant discusses his experiences as an international student at UChicago.