News: 2020

April

Richard Miller, pioneering computational astrophysicist, 1926-2020

April 6, 2020

Richard Miller, 1926-2020

Founding Chair on the Committee of Information Sciences and pioneer in numerical simulations of the formation of structure in the universe and dynamics of galaxies died on Mar. 7


Intentional Space: simple strategies blog

April 3, 2020

Intentional Space blog: taking in content

taking in content
Read the PSD Communications blog Intentional Space for simple strategies to help you navigate working from home and heightening your awareness. This blog series by PSD Communications Specialist Maureen McMahon will run during Spring Quarter. Find simple work-from-home routines, mindfulness strategies, and ways to cultivate a peaceful day.


Researchers join forces to study how best to decontaminate N95 masks

April 2, 2020

N95 Mask

A team of 60 scientists and engineers, students and clinicians from both the private sector and universities, including the University of Chicago, are unveiling N95decon.org, a website that synthesizes the scientific literature about mask decontamination to create a set of best practices to decontaminate and reuse this protective face covering during the current emergency.


March

Intentional Space: simple strategies blog

March 31, 2020

Cultivating a peaceful day

cultivating a peaceful workday
Read the PSD Communications blog Intentional Space for simple strategies to help you navigate working from home and heightening your awareness. This blog series by PSD Communications Specialist Maureen McMahon will run during Spring Quarter. Find simple work-from-home routines, mindfulness strategies, and ways to cultivate a peaceful day.


Statistician Rina Foygel Barber wins Peter Gavin Hall Early Career Prize

March 30, 2020

Rina Foygel Barber

Prof. Foygel Barber wins Hall Award “for outstanding
contributions to the development of methodology and theory for structured
high-dimensional data problems such as sparse regression, sparse
nonparametric models, and low-rank models, as well as scalable
optimization techniques for nonconvex problems.”


PSD in the News - March 2020

March 30, 2020

PSD in white against a maroon background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for the efforts of chemists to decode RNA of the new coronavirus, using AI to decode cuneiform tablets, and predicting a new state of matter.


Labs around UChicago donate protective equipment to hospital

March 27, 2020

aerial view of hospital

Prof. Margaret Gardel leads effort to donate thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment from UChicago labs.


COVID-19 research declared initial focus of C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute

March 27, 2020

Crerar building

The new C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute (C3.ai DTI) unites six research universities, including UChicago, with AI software provider C3.ai and Microsoft to focus scientific efforts on advancing the knowledge, science and technologies for mitigating the impact of future pandemics.


Intentional Space: simple strategies blog

March 27, 2020

Intentional Space Working from Home & a morning routine

working at home & a morning routine
Read the PSD Communications blog Intentional Space for simple strategies to help you navigate working from home and heightening your awareness. This blog series by PSD Communications Specialist Maureen McMahon will run during Spring Quarter. Find simple work-from-home routines, mindfulness strategies, and ways to cultivate a peaceful day.


Mark Levin awarded Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigators Prize

March 24, 2020

Mark Levin

Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry Mark Levin was awarded the Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigators Prize for his proposal to find a new way to create a synthetic tracer compound which will significantly improve the effectiveness of current PET scan technology. If he is successful, his technology will open the door to a whole new class of more effective imaging compounds.


Margaret Gardel awarded the Sackler Prize in Biophysics

March 24, 2020

Margaret Gardel

Margaret Gardel, Professor in the Department of Physics and Director of the Material Research Science and Engineering Center, was awarded $25,000 for work on how cells sense mechanical forces and respond to those forces with chemical activity.


EDI’s Wellness Check-In March 2020

March 24, 2020

Wellness Check In March 2020 PSD Staff and Student Committee

We asked our Staff and Student Committees to share some of their strategies on wellness and virtual community building. Here are a few of their thoughts on how to best adapt, manage and stay positive.


PSD Spotlight: Natalie Lund

March 23, 2020

Natalie Lund

PSD’s April spotlight is Natalie Lund, Director of Communications for the Physical Sciences Division. Natalie has been with UChicago for eighteen months and is a young adult fiction author with Penguin Randomhouse.


Understanding RNA could boost effectiveness of future COVID-19 vaccine

March 23, 2020

COVID-19

Prof. Chuan He hopes to begin working on purified viral RNA from collaborators early this week.


Richard Miller, pioneer of computational astrophysics, 1926–2020

March 23, 2020

Prof. Richard Miller

Prof. Richard Miller, founding Chair on the Committee of Information Sciences and pioneer in numerical simulations of the formation of structure in the universe and dynamics of galaxies, died Mar. 7 in Chicago.