UChicago’s Dickinson Lab announces a new system—PANCS-spec-Binders—for precise, rapid protein binder discovery. This innovation could unlock treatment for diseases driven by hard-to-target proteins. chemistry.uchicago.edu/news/new-uch...

A partnership between UChicago’s Data Science Institute and North Dakota Native Vote helps Indigenous residents protect their right to vote. The “Find Your Address” tool translates GPS locations into official addresses, overcoming barriers to the ballot box. datascience.uchicago.edu/news/finding...

Prof. Giulia Galli has been appointed CNRS Fellow-Ambassador, honoring her global leadership in materials modeling and quantum simulation. 🎉 pme.uchicago.edu/news/prof-gi...

Are students hiding their AI use? New research from PSD computer scientist Alex Kale and colleagues uncovers a social stigma behind AI in the classroom. cs.uchicago.edu/news/are-stu...

Why do so many distant planets have opaque, featureless atmospheres? UChicago researchers discovered that mini-Neptunes may churn out clouds of soot under intense conditions—changing how we interpret telescope data and what we know about their origins. news.uchicago.edu/story/many-p...

Missed the live “Quantum Technology, Explained” event? Now’s your chance to hear from UChicago’s experts—demystifying quantum science, its challenges, and what it means for our workforce, economy, and medicine. news.uchicago.edu/big-brains-p...

How “fractal” are Earth’s coastlines? PhD student Matthew Oline analyzed over 130,000 islands and found their edges are surprisingly smooth. The coastline paradox endures, but new models show island features scale with different fractal dimensions. www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...

Frank Calegari’s breakthroughs in number theory and Young-Kee Kim’s discoveries on fundamental particles have earned each a place in the Royal Society. Congratulations to both for their global scientific impact! physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

Congratulations to our MS and PhD students receiving their diplomas this weekend! Your curiosity, creativity, and perseverance are inspiring and we wish you a fulfilling journey in the years ahead. 📸: Students lining up for the 2025 MS Diploma Ceremony

UChicago physicists demonstrated how interface shape controls “viscous fingering”—those branching structures in mixed fluids. Their findings could increase efficiency in industrial and environmental processes, from oil wells to carbon storage. physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

Is your playlist truly human? Quicksilver scans music for AI artifacts in real time, revealing just how much machine-made content is out there. UChicago’s SAND Lab and nonprofit ETCH are leading the way for ethical AI tools. cs.uchicago.edu/news/unmaski...

How do you get students excited about quantum science? PSD graduate student Robert Weinbaum created Quantum Tic-Tac-Toe, a hands-on game that demystifies superposition and unlocks curiosity. physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

The University of Chicago’s first building devoted entirely to data science and artificial intelligence now bears the names of Lorraine and Yuji Suzuki, who met as students, married on campus and went on to support the University for decades. physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

Rebecca Willett’s leadership in interdisciplinary collaboration—spanning AI, statistics, and mathematics—has earned her the Arthur L. Kelly Faculty Prize for Exceptional Service. physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

Congratulations to Prof. Laura Gagliardi, winner of the 2026 Schrödinger Medal! Her work in quantum theory and climate solutions places her among theoretical chemistry’s icons. chemistry.uchicago.edu/news/profess...

The Webb Telescope has opened up a whole new view of distant planets—and UChicago scientists are leading the way. 🌌 Kua’kua’s dark, rocky surface is teaching us about the conditions needed for life elsewhere. news.uchicago.edu/story/scient...

Congratulations to Prof. Nick Feamster for earning a 2026 Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for undergraduate teaching. Read more: news.uchicago.edu/story/uchica...

A novel qubit platform built with frozen neon is bringing us closer to high-performance quantum computers. Argonne, UChicago, and collaborators show electron-on-neon qubits can reach extremely low noise levels, setting new standards for quantum tech. physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

A suit that helps you learn new skills? UChicago’s HCIntegration Lab won a Best Paper Award at CHI 2026 for an AI-powered wearable that guides your muscles to perform tasks—no experience needed. newatlas.com/ai-humanoids...

Prof. Sarah King’s lab has “filmed” hybrid light-matter polaritons traveling across MoOCl₂ crystals at room temperature—revealing new ways to control the flow of light. This powerful technique could reshape optical circuits and quantum technologies. physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

The Royal Statistical Society awarded Prof. Peter McCullagh the Guy Medal in Gold for "pivotal contributions to statistical theory, both broad in range and exceptional in depth." rss.org.uk/news-publica...

Prof. Frank Calegari has been named a 2026 Simons Fellow in Mathematics! The grant provides mathematicians with opportunities for intellectual stimulation and collaboration that foster innovative research. www.simonsfoundation.org/2026/04/10/2...

Congratulations to Prof. Anna Wuttig for being named a 2026 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar! The award honors early-career faculty in the chemical sciences who have created an outstanding independent body of scholarship and are deeply committed to education with undergraduates. shorturl.at/F6XCJ

Congratulations to Prof. Chuan He on his election to the National Academy of Sciences for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. www.nasonline.org/news/2026-na...

What is turbulence, really? A novel experiment at UChicago creates The Blob—an isolated “ball” of turbulent flow—to study how energy spreads and decays in chaotic systems. shorturl.at/2DbcL

Congrats to Profs. Yu Deng and Tomer Schlank on earning 2026 Clay Research Awards! www.claymath.org/news/2026-cl...

Congratulations to Clay Córdova for winning the 2026 New Horizons in Physics Prize for "generalizing the notion of symmetry in various ways, and for exploring the consequences of these generalized symmetries." physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

There's still time to celebrate Earth Day with events extending through the end of the month! Check out the calendar and join us! news.uchicago.edu/story/celebr...

Assoc. Prof. Pedram Hassanzadeh is pushing the limits of extreme weather prediction at UChicago. His team is leveraging AI to forecast events that have never even been observed before. www.youtube.com/watch?v=maN5...

The 2026 Science as Art winners are here! 🏆 “Yin and Yang: Harmony in Chaos” by Takumi Matsuzawa captured swirling turbulence in vivid color; “Cartography of the Mouse” mapped gene expression with flair. Honorable mentions feature ancient ceramics and plasma waves! news.uchicago.edu/story/winner...

Congratulations to Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb, awarded the prestigious 51 Pegasi b Fellowship! 🪐 Her work blends cutting-edge exoplanet observations and theory to reveal the secrets of the galaxy’s most common, but mysterious, sub-Neptunes. 🚀 shorturl.at/9bFIh

AI weather forecasting can inform decision-making to improve public health and agriculture in these regions Read the full story - datascience.uchicago.edu/news/univers...

An interdisciplinary team at UChicago has won a distinguished Laude Institute Moonshots Seed Grant @ianfoster42.bsky.social, @pedramh.bsky.social, Michael Kremer, and @beccawillett.bsky.social will work to advance actionable AI weather forecasting in developing economies in Africa and Asia 🔗 ⬇️

Congrats to Alexandra Worden of the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at UChicago! She joins a group of distinguished artists, scientists, and scholars in the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows. #2026GuggFellows physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article...

How do materials change at the nanoscale? 🌟 UChicago President Paul Alivisatos and PME student and first author, Binyu Wu, created a new simulation revealing cation exchange in nanocrystals. Dive into the science at the link in bio! pme.uchicago.edu/news/insight...

Scientists at the University of Chicago are exploring the cosmic mystery of dark matter—an invisible force that binds galaxies and shapes the universe. With cutting-edge detectors and creative theories, they’re working to uncover what lies beyond the visible. More: news.uchicago.edu/story/dark-m...

What if the secret to pain relief was hiding in your phone battery? 🔋 UChicago scientists found a new way to use lithium-ion tech as a flexible patch, aiming for targeted treatment with fewer side effects. news.uchicago.edu/story/secret...

Join us 4/14 during International #DarkSkyWeek for a global livestream on the latest progress of the Giant Magellan Telescope. Go behind the scenes of the engineering, science, and international collaboration driving the observatory toward first light in the 2030s. summit.giantmagellan.org

Thank you for supporting the Physical Sciences Division this Giving Day! We are grateful for your generosity and support for history in the making!

Great news—there’s still time! Help the Physical Sciences Division reach our Giving Day goal by 2 PM with a gift to the Stuart A. Rice Physical Sciences Memorial Fund or the PSD Graduate Fund. Your generosity directly supports tomorrow’s leaders in science. shorturl.at/pfQgf

A gift to the PSD Graduate Fund enables our students to carry on UChicago’s legacy of pioneering researchers, who are making history in our classrooms, labs, and communities across the world. Join us in giving to support scientific advances that will transform the future. shorturl.at/pfQgf

From unveiling cosmic mysteries to revolutionizing technology, our students pursue breakthroughs alongside faculty mentors. Your gift to the PSD Graduate Fund helps keep this momentum—and legacy—going. shorturl.at/pfQgf

Giving Day is here! Your gift to the Stuart A. Rice Physical Sciences Memorial Fund invests in outstanding graduate students who share Rice's spirit of boldness, curiosity, and discovery. Join us: shorturl.at/pfQgf

Discover 130 years of UChicago physics through books, stories, and unsung voices in “Binding Energy”—a student-curated web exhibit uncovering the lives behind groundbreaking ideas. Explore the exhibit: shorturl.at/uZMqV

How can particles from deep space help us map Earth’s core or unlock the origins of lightning? Join the free Compton Lectures, featuring Keith McBride on Saturdays at 11 AM from March 28–May 16, to find out how UChicago scientists are chasing cosmic clues! efi.uchicago.edu/events/compt...

Giving Day begins at noon on March 31! Join fellow Maroons in 24 hours of giving back—supporting students, faculty, and world-changing research at UChicago.

Science took center stage in #ProjectHailMary 🎬 Members from UChicago PME, PSD and Argonne gathered for a special advance screening of the movie, followed by a panel exploring the real science behind the story. 🧪 See the film only in theaters starting March 20th. pme.uchicago.edu/news/science...

How close are we to the science of the movies? Join UChicago and Argonne scientists at #C2E2 for a special panel on March 27, 2:45–3:30 PM in Room S401-ABC, exploring AI, extreme microbes, and the real discoveries that inspire today’s sci-fi blockbusters—including Project Hail Mary.

We are excited to share that Prof. Ka Yee C. Lee has been appointed dean of the University of Chicago’s Physical Sciences Division. Lee has served as interim dean since February 2024. news.uchicago.edu/story/ka-yee...

Why did life evolve error correction? UChicago researchers find that speed, not just fidelity, helps drive biological proofreading—changing our perspective on evolution. See the Science article: tinyurl.com/ybxcj24w