News: Faculty

Listen to a Scientific American podcast about Prof. Melba Phillips, a UChicago physicist who contributed to the development of nuclear physics and then became an outspoken critic of nuclear weapons.

CS Asst. Prof. Sarah Sebo discusses why her robot cheats at Rock, Paper, Scissors.

CS Prof. Andrew Chien is exploring ways to help big electricity users tap clean energy.

Profs. Guangbin Dong and Benoît Roux have made breakthroughs in organic synthetic chemistry and biophysics. They join the 2023 class, announced April 18, which includes scientists, engineers and innovators across multiple fields.

For the past two years, Chemistry Assistant Professor Sarah King has organized an open art contest in her CHEM 122 class. At the end of the quarter, several students are selected to present a visual project before the class that breaks down complex chemistry principles into creative works of art. By incorporating elements of creativity and communication, the competition serves multiple purposes in King’s pedagogical approach.

CS PhD Student Soumik Ghosh and Assistant Professor Bill Fefferman find that random circuit sampling problems that incorporate non-unital noise do not anticoncentrate, breaking every easiness and hardness result to date.

MIT Technology Review article discusses the same study regarding the reduction in air pollution and its connection to global warming. Geophysical Sciences professor David Keith notes that this inadvertent "geoengineering experiment" is now being shut off as the world cleans up its air.

A Science article, which quotes Geophysical Sciences professor Tiffany Shaw, discusses how the reduction in air pollution and aerosols has led to less reflection of sunlight, which could be contributing to faster global warming.

Protein lets calcium ions into cell; finding could open new avenues for therapies.

NYT article: Scientists may have discovered a major flaw in their understanding of that mysterious cosmic force. That could be good news for the fate of the universe. Wendy Freedman praises the new survey data as "superb," and Michael Turner says the possible evidence that dark energy is not constant is the best news since cosmic acceleration was established.

Josh Frieman will lead around 50 astronomy students south to Carbondale to be in the path of totality for the upcoming solar eclipse.

An accelerator known as a muon collider could revolutionize particle physics—if it can be built. Physicists, like UChicago's Karri Dipetrillo, are advocating for one to be built at Fermilab.

SAND Lab's Nightshade aims to help artists prevent image generators from easily reproducing their work, but the researchers behind it warn more intellectual property safeguards are needed.

UChicago, Fermilab research uses coaxial “dish” antenna to scan for mysterious particles.

UChicago scholars, including Michael Turner, Bruce V. & Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Physics, discuss the significance of the eclipse in science, culture, and religion.