News: 2022

For World Quantum Day, Prof. David Awschalom comments in Forbes’ brief overview of where quantum computing, communications, and sensing and its industry and investments are going, where quantum is today, and how we got here.

KICP fellow, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil, was interviewed by Astrobites about her childhood fascination with Albert Einstein and the wisdom gained staking a career as an astrophysicist, emphasizing "you don’t need to choose your career over your identity."

Jasmine Lu, Ziwei Liu, Jas Brooks, and Prof. Asst. Pedro Lopes of the Human Computer Integration Lab are developing a new kind of haptic feedback they've dubbed chemical haptics, applying it to five different virtual reality experiences.

The 2022 Darwin-Wallace Medal from The Linnean Society of London has been awarded to University of Chicago paleobiologist David Jablonski in honor of his making major advances in evolutionary science.

Prof. Lek-Heng Lim is among the 180 Guggenheim fellows selected in this year’s class from nearly 2,500 applicants. He is recognized for introducing high-level algebra, geometry and topology to applied mathematics. In particular, he works with a type of mathematical object called a tensor and how the concept can be used in computational mathematics and the information sciences.

On March 31, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) announced that Lek-Heng Lim, Professor of the Department of Statistics, Computational and Applied Mathematics Initiative, and the College, is among 26 members to be honored in the 2022 Class of SIAM Fellows.

A top flight of architects and structural engineers will present public lectures on some of the most innovative work being done in contemporary structural design as part of a unique physics undergraduate course offered this Spring Quarter at the University of Chicago, Physics & Contemporary Architecture (PHSC11800) taught by Professors Sid Nagel and Heinrich Jaeger. Enrolled undergraduate students, as well as the interested public, can join online for free Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. CST.

Lia Merminga, an internationally renowned physicist and scientific leader, has been appointed to lead Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, effective April 18. She is the seventh director and first woman director.

Two astrophysicists who have been selected for the prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship Program have chosen to join the University of Chicago Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics to conduct their postdoctoral research. Jessica Avva, AB'15, and Hayley Macpherson will seek to answer how the universe works as Einstein Fellows, beginning their programs in Autumn Quarter of 2022.

The Heising-Simons Foundation today announced Michael Zhang, California Institute of Technology, Astronomy Ph.D.’22, as a recipient of the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. He is among eight fellows selected for 2022. Zhang will be joining the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics in the Fall term to study the atmospheres of planets outside the solar system.

The Physical Sciences Division has many programs ranked highly in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report top science graduate schools rankings.

A new pilot program from the UChicago Financial Education Initiative is facilitating conversations about money for local area families. Funded by the University of Chicago Women’s Board, Family Money Night brings parents, kids, and schools together in a uniquely research-based experience.
 

With projects spanning an array of industries, data types, and methodological approaches, the Master of Science in Analytics (MScA) program’s autumn 2021 Capstone Showcase featured an impressive field of twenty-one teams, with four distinguished with Best in Show awards.

Physical Sciences Division members, including an alumna, a graduate student, and undergraduates, won the first inaugural 'Science as Art' contest run by University of Chicago Communications. See their winning photos.

A new study introduces a breakthrough in making nanocrystals function together electronically. The research led by Prof. Dmitri Talapin, Department of Chemistry, may open the doors to future devices with new abilities.