News: Students

This April, labs in the Department of Chemistry and the Institute for Molecular Engineering (IME) are invited to join a competition to be the Safest Lab of 2019. The premise? The Joint Research Safety Initiative (JRSI), a student and postdoc-run group, will train volunteers to walk through participating labs “looking both for safety mishaps and clever ingenuity.” The winning labs earn not only the title but also a grand prize of $500 or two runner-up prizes of $250 to be used for a lab outing. 

Naomi Sweeting, a fourth-year in the College, has been awarded the Alice T. Schafer Mathematics Prize, given annually by the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) to an undergraduate woman for excellence in mathematics.

Although NASA's Kepler space telescope ran out of fuel and ended its mission in 2018, citizen scientists, including UChicago graduate student Adina Feinstein, have used its data to discover an exoplanet 226 light-years away in the Taurus constellation.

Gabriel Vargas grew up in San José, Costa Rica. He received a Licenciatura (Bachelor’s plus professional degree) in microbiology and clinical chemistry and a Master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Costa Rica. He is now pursuing a PhD in geophysical sciences with a concentration on microbiology. We interviewed him about his experiences at the University of Chicago.

Margaret Nichols grew up in Minneapolis, MN. She received her BA in math with a minor in computer science from Oberlin College. She is now pursuing her PhD in mathematics with a focus on geometric topology and the study of 3-manifolds. We interviewed her about her experience at the University of Chicago.

This past year brought us the launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, named after Prof. Emeritus Eugene Parker, the next generation South Pole Telescope, metal-organic nanoflowers to treat cancer, and more. Here is a look back at ten highlights in research and innovation in the PSD.

Rupak Gupta grew up in Delhi, India. He received a bachelor's in engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Delhi University and master’s in financial mathematics at UChicago. We interviewed him about his experience at UChicago.

Becca Thompson grew up in Evanston, IL. She attended Amherst College and worked in healthcare technology for two years before starting at the University of Chicago. She’s now pursuing a PhD in chemistry. We interviewed her about her experience at the University of Chicago.

Bernard Dickens III is a Chicago native. He received a BS in computer science from Morehouse College and is now pursuing a PhD. We interviewed him about his experiences at the University of Chicago.

Rebecca Diesing grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her BA from Northwestern and is now pursuing a PhD in astrophysics. We interviewed her about her experiences at the University of Chicago.

Chris McKennan was born in New York City and grew up in New Canaan, CT. He earned his undergraduate degree in math and physics from Cornell University. He is now pursuing a PhD in statistics. We interviewed him about his experiences at the University of Chicago.

Lipi Gupta grew up in Corvallis, Oregon. She earned her undergraduate degree in physics from Cornell University and is now pursuing a PhD in physics. We interviewed her about her experience at the University of Chicago.

Justin Finkel grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He studied physics and mathematics as an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis. He’s now pursuing a PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics. We interviewed him about his experience at the University of Chicago.

Claire Zurkowski was born in Baltimore and grew up in Havre de Grace, Maryland. She received a BS from San Francisco State University. She is currently pursuing a PhD in geophysical sciences. We interviewed her about her experience at the University of Chicago.

Ayaan Quraeshi grew up in Wellington, Florida. He received a BA from the University of South Florida. He is currently pursuing an MS in financial math. We interviewed him about his experience at the University of Chicago.