News: 2022

December

PSD in the News - December 2022

December 31, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers were featured in the news for climate research findings that the Southern Hemisphere is stormier than the Northern, creating a living smartwatch that runs on slime, and seminal contributions to the development of a quantum internet.


University of Chicago scientist explains fusion ignition, what it means for future of clean energy

December 23, 2022

blue light/rays as part of the process of nuclear fusion ignition

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was the first to successfully replicate the process of how the sun makes energy, on earth –nuclear fusion ignition. UChicago Astronomy & Astrophysics professor Dr. Don Lamb helped develop a computer code to do experiments on the kind of lasers like the one used to achieve fusion ignition.


Suzuki Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 2022-2023

December 21, 2022

Photos of Yanzeng Li and Alexander Strang against a light blue background

Two postdocs, Yanzeng Li and Alexander Strang, have been named recipients of the 2022-2023 Suzuki Postdoctoral Fellowship Award. Yuji Suzuki, SM’70, a longtime supporter and former Council member of the Physical Sciences Division, established the Yuji and Lorraine Suzuki Postdoctoral Research Fund in 2016 to recognize outstanding postdoctoral researchers. The award provides a salary top-off.


This Smart Device Is A Living Organism That Changed The Users Interaction

December 20, 2022

A close up show details of a physarum polycephalum, known as a blob, during a record attempt to assemble the longest blob in the world at the Blaise Pascal secondary school in Chateauroux, central France, on June 3, 2022. - In collaboration with the CNRS

UChicago Ph.D. student Jasmine Lu and Assistant Professor of Computer Science Pedro Lopes built a smartwatch that runs on Physarum Polycephalum, a species of slime mold. 


Scientists say they know why the Southern Hemisphere is so stormy

December 19, 2022

Children play in a violent storm that brought heavy rain and toppled trees in Yuendumu, Australia, in March.

Researchers say they now know why the Southern Hemisphere is so much stormier than its northern counterpart, adding their discovery could help explain future climate change projections.


The quantum internet, explained

December 16, 2022

hands in purple gloves assemble a quantum research instrument

As part of The Day Tomorrow Began, UChicago News explains the meaning of quantum internet—a network of quantum computers that will someday send, compute, and receive information encoded in quantum states.


Chemistry student Elizabeth Kelley honored with the 2023 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award

December 16, 2022

Elizabeth Kelley

Elizabeth Kelley, a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, was honored with the 2023 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award, which recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education and who are committed to academic innovation in the areas of equity, community engagement, and teaching and learning.


The physicist who finds fundamental truths in spilled coffee

December 15, 2022

Sidney Nagel

Sidney Nagel, the Stein-Freiler Distinguished Service Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago, is accepting the 2023 American Physical Society Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research. The award, sometimes referred to as the ‘lifetime achievement Oscar of physics,’ recognizes “contributions of the highest level that advance our knowledge and understanding of the physical universe in all its facets.”


Don Lamb comments, UChicago scientists contribute to nuclear fusion breakthrough

December 15, 2022

Astrophysicist Donald Lamb on CBS News

Prof. Don Lamb comments on UChicago’s contribution to the net energy gain for nuclear fusion breakthrough achieved by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.


How star collisions forge the universe’s heaviest elements

December 14, 2022

Two neutron stars

Sanjana Curtis, a postdoc in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, wrote an article for Scientific American describing new evidence on how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum, and other heavy members of the periodic table.


The David Rubenstein Show: Walter Massey

December 14, 2022

Walter Massey

Walter Massey, senior advisor to the president and emeritus trustee of the University of Chicago, former Morehouse College president emeritus and former Bank of America chairman, discusses being raised in segregated Mississippi, building the Giant Magellan Telescope and whether or not we're really alone in the universe. 


Robert Rosner comments, Fusion breakthrough could be climate, energy game-changer

December 14, 2022

Bob Rosner on video

Prof. Robert Rosner was a guest on WTTW Chicago Tonight commenting on a breakthrough by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. For the first time they produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it, something called net energy gain.


A new study explains why the Southern Hemisphere is more stormy than the Northern

December 13, 2022

The shadow of the Willis Tower, left, falls on Lake Michigan and passing storm clouds as the setting sun lights up the Chicago skyline as seen from the Willis Tower, Tuesday, June 29, 2021

The Earth’s Southern Hemisphere is more stormy than the Northern Hemisphere. But why?  New research led by University of Chicago professor Tiffany Shaw offers an explanation and shows the asymmetry is only growing.


Quantum-ready workforce tops White House, scientists’ list of needs

December 13, 2022

President Joe Biden looks at a quantum instrument

Prof. David Awschalom of physics was among 30 of the country’s best quantum scientists who met at the White House on Dec. 2 to discuss the global quantum race.


Professor Fred Chong named IEEE Fellow

December 12, 2022

Professor Fred Chong

Fred Chong, the Seymour Goodman Professor in the Department of Computer Science, was elevated to IEEE Fellow in the organization’s 2023 class. The distinction was given to Chong for “contributions to the field of quantum computer architecture, compilation and optimization.”