News: 2024

Created by UChicago scientists in the SAND Lab, the tools Glaze and Nightshade are helping artists fight back against exploitative generative AI practices. As the project continues, the team has faced backlash from sectors of the AI community but has also received encouragement from the broader scientific and artistic community. 
 

AI tools are proliferating, leading to more people and industries adopting this technology. At UChicago, scientists explored the possibility that an AI model could help predict extreme weather events. However, the results demonstrated that AI climate models are still in need of more advanced strategies if they are to provide warnings for the most extreme weather scenarios.

Abigail Poteshman, a fifth-year PhD student in the Committee on Computational and Applied Mathematics, conducts research in method development for modeling and characterizing quantum materials, such as ferroelectrics and spin-defects in semiconductors.

Chiza Mwinde, a fifth-year PhD student in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences, focuses on measuring element variations in evaporite minerals, which helps reconstruct factors like the pH and elemental composition of ancient seawater.

Jihee You, a first-year PhD student in Data Science, studies topics related to machine learning—specifically, explainable AI and graph neural networks.

A landmark study published in Science Advances by the Ray Moellering lab has introduced a novel method for analyzing enzyme activity in individual cells within breast cancers.

In a new study published in Physical Review Research, Carlos Floyd, a postdoctoral fellow working with the Suri Vaikuntanathan group, investigates non-equilibrium materials, shedding light on their unique properties and potential implications for understanding biological systems.

Professor Emeritus James Norris received the inaugural "Spin Chemistry Lifetime Achievement Award" from the ESR Spectroscopy group of the Royal Society of Chemistry. This award is designed to honor scientists who have made groundbreaking contributions to the field of spectroscopy.

In a new interview, postdoctoral scholar Aman Agrawal discusses his work in the Jack Szostak lab exploring the origins of life on Earth, focusing on early cellular structures and examining the potential impact of rainwater in stabilizing these primitive forms of life.

Graduate student Sam Marsden is working on creating a new form of polymer that will be as strong as polyethylene but as recyclable as PET. Mardsen is currently part of the Rowan Group, which focuses on supramolecular chemistry research.

This October marked a significant milestone with the 10th anniversary of its MS in Applied Data Science program. This accomplishment was celebrated at a reception held at Remington’s in Chicago, where alumni, faculty, and industry leaders came together to commemorate the program and connect with one another.

An exchange program between Chicago and Taiwan helps students gain cultural and research experience.

UChicago’s Talapin Lab has developed a landmark technique that replaces organic solvents with molten salt, allowing researchers to grow “previously unimaginable nanocrystals.” 

UChicago Professor of Computer Science Rebecca Willett is the 2024 recipient of the SIAM Activity Group on Data Science Career Prize, for “her work in physics-informed machine learning and data science and for her service and leadership in the data science community.”

The 2024 Chicago Quantum Summit featured discussions about commercialization, workforce building, and need for continued investment.