News: 2021

Mathematicians have expanded category theory into infinite dimensions, revealing new connections among mathematical concepts. Among them is Prof. Amie Wilkinson, whose commentary on symmetry and "moves" in category theory is helping to shape modern mathematics.

Prof. Young-Kee Kim, an eminent experimental physicist at the University of Chicago, has been elected future president of the American Physical Society. She will assume the position in 2024, when she will become the ninth UChicago scientist to do so.

Prof. William Irvine, of the Department of Physics, James Franke Institute, and Enrico Fermi Institute, and collaborators at New York University have created a way to make tiny mechanical capsules that can pick up, carry, and release cargo on cue. The results, published Sept. 8 in Nature, could potentially have applications in medicine, pollution cleanup, or robotics.

Dam Thanh Son, the University Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago, laid out the argument that aloof neutrons may actually ‘talk’ to one another briefly in new kind of symmetry in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which he co-authored with Hans-Werner Hammer of the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. Their findings propose a new realm of ‘unnuclear physics.'

Aaron Elmore, assistant professor at UChicago Computer Science, develops database models that use intermittent query processing (IQP). The approach grafts machine learning prediction to database processing, providing more efficient computation to systems working with bursty data or intermittent monitoring. As a new recipient of the CAREER award, the National Science Foundation's most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty, Elmore will continue designing these innovative systems for data-driven applications.

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to bring software that makes quantum computing faster to the market, to speed up development of materials that can harness energy from sunlight, and to pioneer US quantum research and design a new internet protocol that manages different types of quantum information encoding.

Prof. Bozhi Tian’s group has a newly patented method for fabrication of carbon-based bioelectronic devices and interfaces that could shape therapeutics of the future. The discovery demonstrates electrical biosensing that is more flexible, efficient, and stable.

As part of a nationwide initiative to boost research in quantum science, the National Science Foundation will establish a $25 million institute in Chicago to investigate quantum sensing for biology and train the quantum workforce. Headquartered at the University of Chicago and in partnership with Chicago State University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Harvard University, the institute will be funded for five years.

The University of Chicago will award two PSD alumnae for their professional achievements in a Nov. 5 ceremony. Katherine Freese, PhD’84, is a professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin—where she holds the Jeff and Gail Kodosky Endowed Chair in Physics—and professor of physics at Stockholm University in Sweden. Zhenan Bao, SM’93, PhD’95, is department chair and K.K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering, and by courtesy, a professor of chemistry and a professor of material science and engineering at Stanford University.

UChicago chemists specializing in mathematical physics, materials chemistry, and physical chemistry are part of a team of scientists who have received $3 million in funding to support three years of quantum information science research. Working with Harvard University and Purdue University, the collaboration will try to build the foundations for using quantum computers to model molecules at the atomic level—yielding not only insights that could lead the way to new chemical discoveries, but potentially laying the groundwork for quantum computing as a whole.

A new data science major will help UChicago undergraduates learn how to analyze data and apply it to critical real-world problems in various disciplines. Students also have the option to combine data science with a second major.

Crain’s Chicago Business profiles UChicago’s major investment in quantum computing research in hopes of putting itself and Chicago at the forefront of the next big innovation in technology.

In a letter sent to members of the University community on his first day in Levi Hall, the leading chemist and new president wrote he will spend the fall in listening and planning sessions. He would like to explore two particular aspects: the UChicago of deep inquiry and scholarship, and the “engaged” UChicago in the world of practice.

As part of a new $61 million investment from the Department of Energy in quantum research, a consortium of scientists from University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were awarded funding to design a new internet protocol that manages different types of quantum information encoding.

Professor of Chemistry Giulia Galli is among a team of scientists at Argonne National Laboratory using machine learning to speed up development of materials that can harness energy from sunlight. The team was able to simplify the solution of the quantum mechanical equations that describe how light is absorbed by a solid, liquid or molecule.