News: Students

2022

PSD in the News - July 2022

August 1, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to use supercomputing simulations to reveal weaknesses in HIV-1 defense, share the scientific community's enthusiasm for the first full-color images of James Webb Space Telescope, and to invent a ‘quantum flute’ that can make particles of light move together.


Enlightened: Kenneth Sembach, AB’88, leads the mission to find the universe’s first light

July 14, 2022

Kenneth Sembach

UChicago Magazine profiles Kenneth Sembach, AB’88, the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, the NASA-contracted nonprofit organization responsible for Webb’s flight and science operations.


Emily Chen, SB’20 Chemistry, among inaugural class of Arley D. Cathay Fellows

July 11, 2022

Emily Chen

Emily Chen, SB’20 Chemistry and a researcher in the lab of Prof. Giulia Galli, has been selected for the inaugural Arley D. Cathey International Graduate Study Fellowships, which provide financial assistance to pursue a rigorous, research-oriented master's degree at an internationally renowned foreign research university.


PSD in the News - June 22

June 30, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to understand why Mars dried out, expand and activate the Chicagoland quantum network, and analyze samples from asteroid Ryugu collected by Hayabusa2.


DSI Summer Lab returns in-person with 49 students from across the U.S.

June 22, 2022

the logo for the UChicago Data Science Institute Summer Lab in maroon and yellow

After two years of remote participation, the 2022 DSI Summer Lab will bring 49 high school, undergraduate, and master’s students to Chicago for a ten-week immersion into data science research.


Undergrads begin summer quantum research with support from Moore Foundation, Chicago region universities, national labs

June 14, 2022

Undergrads visiting a quantum research lab

An inaugural cohort of a dozen students will join quantum research labs around the Midwest this June, planting the seeds for a diverse and inclusive quantum workforce.


Physics student Katrina Miller writes about the unwritten laws of physics for Black women

June 8, 2022

UChicago graduate women physicists Andrea Bryant, LaNijah Flagg, Katrina Miller, and Ayanna Matthews in the machine shop at UChicago

Physics graduate student Katrina Miller traces histories of Black women physicists and astrophysicists in the PSD, in a personal essay for Wired Magazine. She writes, “I just wanted to be a scientist, not a trailblazer. But in my field, people like me are anomalies—and we face constant scrutiny for our race and gender.”


PSD recognizes nine students with a William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship

June 7, 2022

psd logo

The Physical Sciences Division has selected nine graduate students to receive a William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year.  


PSD in the News - May 2022

June 2, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to capture the first image of the Milky Way's massive black hole, map the digital divide affecting connectivity across the country, and use computer simulations to understand the world's deadliest viruses.


Students earn 2022 Nathan Sugarman Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate and Graduate Research

June 1, 2022

Physical Sciences data map logo

Students in the College, Zihni Baykara and Macallan Maedke, and graduate students, Kaeli Hughes and Rostom Mbarek have been honored by the Enrico Fermi Institute with Nathan Sugarman Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate and Graduate Research. 


PSD graduate students earn Booth and Physical Sciences Prizes for Teaching

May 27, 2022

Physical Sciences data map logo

A graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, Ian Bongalonta, has been named a winner of the 2022 Wayne C. Booth Prize for Excellence in Teaching, awarded annually to graduate students for outstanding instruction of undergraduates. Additionally, three graduate students have been awarded the Physical Sciences Teaching Prize for 2021-22: Sandrine Legault, Colin Lynch, and Sarah Litwin of the Department of Chemistry.


New study lays out hidden backstory behind deadly Pacific Northwest heat wave

May 17, 2022

Air temperature anomaly map, western half of US during a heat wave

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.


Shut the Sash: Behavior awareness program impacts campus sustainability

May 5, 2022

James Passolano

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. 


Computer simulations hold the key to understanding some of the world’s deadliest viruses

May 3, 2022

Greg Voth

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 to delete single atoms can speed up molecule design

May 2, 2022

Asst. Prof. Mark Levin (left) and Ph.D. student Jisoo Woo at work in the laboratory at the University of Chicago.

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.