Autumn 2025 Department of Physics Orientation

Welcome to the University of Chicago Department of Physics!

We are excited for you to join our department and the university community. We have developed a schedule to facilitate your transition to graduate school, combining a welcome by the Department of Physics, information sessions, advising meetings, and research talks. As graduate students, you are an important part of the Department of Physics and we hope to do everything we can to help you transition into our community.

This year orientation will take place in-person. 

Newly Admitted Student Resources

Orientation Week One: Monday, September 15, 2025 - Friday, September 19, 2025

Week One will consist of an introduction to the department, advising meetings, and information sessions. All sessions will be held in-person and mandatory, unless specified as optional.

Campus tour on Wednesday, September 24 at 10: 30 am (more info in the schedule below). Here is the campus  as well as the neighborhood highlights.

Orientation Week Two: Monday, September 22, 2025 - Friday, September 26, 2025

Week Two will consist of required workshops and faculty presentations. All sessions will be held in-person and mandatory, unless specfied. 

WEEK ONE

Monday, September 15, 2025

All sessions from 10:30 am - 1:30 pm will be in KPTC 206.

10:30 am - 10:45 am Welcome from the Chair of the Department of Physics, Peter Littlewood

Peter Littlewood holds a BA and PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge. He was member of technical staff, and later head, of the theoretical physics research group at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. He moved to Cambridge in 1997 as head of the Theory of Condensed Matter group, and later became head of the Cavendish Laboratory and Department of Physics. He came to UChicago in 2011 as Associate Lab Director and then Lab Director, at Argonne National Lab, returning full time to the University in 2017. He serves on the advisory boards of several institutes, including the Faraday Institution, the Simons Foundation, the Paul Scherer Institute, the Carnegie Institute for Science, and the Max Planck Institutes at Halle and Hamburg.

KPTC 206

10:45 am - 11:15 am Physics Department Welcome 

KPTC 206

11:15 am - 11:30 am  Overview of Week One and Two 

KPTC 206

11:30 am - 1:00 pm  information Session with Putri (lunch included)

This session will provide graduate students with information about the services and resources provided by the University, give an overview of the University of Chicago Physical Science Division policies and funding structures, and give an opportunity for students to ask questions about it all.

KPTC 206

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm  Staff Office Pop-in (optional)

Meet with staff in KPTC by visiting their offices. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

11:00 am - 11:30 am Presentations from Enrico Fermi Institute and James Franck Institute

Ramona Echols (EFI), Maria Jimenez (JFI), and Mary Heintz (EFI) will share an overview of resources each institute can provide as well as insight on their commitment for all our students. 

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch with Faculty

Join our faculty (Keisuke Harigaya, Mohamed Abdelhafez, Andrew Higginbotham, Tom Witten, David Miller, Zoe Yan, David Schmitz, John Carlstrom, Abigail Vieregg, Cheng Chin, Heinrich Jaeger) for lunch :) 

KPTC 206

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

10:30 am - 12:00 pm Advising Meetings

One-on-one advising meetings with Zosia and Stuart. 

KPTC 201, Zosia's office

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch with Current Students

Lunch with current students and Malcolm Slutzky (part of the LGBTQIA+ Physicists Group)

The LGBTQIA+ Physcists Group formed in 2020, meets occasionally for social events and is in the process of planning what other types of events and advocacy we want to do. The purpose of this group is to provide a space to socialize within the department and to advocate for the needs of LGBTQIA+ members of the physics community. This session will provide incoming students with a chance to meet some current LGBTQIA+ graduate students to learn about opportunities that exist within the department and university. You can join the mailing list here. Mailing list: lgbtqia_phys@lists.uchicago.edu 

KPTC 206

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Advising Meetings

One-on-one advising meetings with Zosia and Stuart. 

KPTC 201, Zosia's office

Thursday, September 18, 2025

10:30 am - 11:00 am David Keith (Geophysical Sciences)

https://davidkeith.earth/

David Keith has worked near the interface of climate science, energy technology, and public policy since 1990. He took first prize in Canada’s national physics prize exam, won MIT’s prize for excellence in experimental physics, and was one of TIME Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment. Keith is Professor of Geophysical Sciences and founding faculty director of the Climate Systems Engineering initiative at the University of Chicago.  

Best known for his work on the science, technology, and public policy of solar geoengineering, Keith led the development of Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program before moving to Chicago in 2023. His policy work has ranged from analysis of electricity markets and carbon prices to research on public and expert perceptions of risky technologies. Keith’s hardware work includes the first interferometer for atoms, a high-accuracy infrared spectrometer for NASA’s ER-2, the development of an air contactor, and the development of a stratospheric propelled balloon experiment for solar geoengineering. 

Keith founded Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company developing technology to capture CO2 from ambient air. He teaches science and technology policy, climate science, and solar geoengineering. He has reached more than 150,000 students worldwide with an edX energy course and has authored more than 200 academic publications with a total citation count of more than 20,000. Keith has written for the public through numerous opinion pieces and wrote the book A Case for Climate Engineering.  

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

11:00 am - 11:30 am Mohit Verma (PhD Student)

Mohit Verma (fifth year) will share with you about cohort bonding.

KPTC 206

11:30 am - 12:00 pm Gio Leone (PhD Student)

Gio Leone (fourth year) will share with you about campus life, city life, and graduate student life in general.

KPTC 206

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch with WAGMiP (Women and Gender Minorities in Physics)

Enjoy some lunch with Stella Wang and her friends from WAGMiP. 

KPTC 206

Friday, September 19, 2025

9:30 am - 12:00 pm  Advising Meetings 

One-on-one advising meetings with Zosia and Stuart. 

KPTC 201, Zosia's Office

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm  Advising Meetings 

One-on-one advising meetings with Zosia and Stuart. 

KPTC 201, Zosia's Office

WEEK TWO

Monday, September 22, 2025

9:30 am - 12:00 pm  PHYS 300 Workshop on the Teaching and Learning of Physics 

This workshop will provide students with tools to developing and utilizing skills to be a more effective Teaching Assistant. It is required for all Teaching Assistants to participate. Research Assistants and Fellows are strongly encouraged to attend so that you will be eligible to hold Teaching Assistantships in the future.

KPTC 106

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm  Student Presentations on Various Topics (Created by Scott Mackey)

A "fireslide" session where current students will give a quick presentation about their research and/or other things

KPTC 206

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Noah Mitchell (Biophysics)

https://mitchelllab.uchicago.edu/ 

The Mitchell Lab studies the physics of organ morphogenesis. In feats of dynamic self-organization, cellular tissues transform into specific shapes that are vital for organ function. While genetic inputs are well-studied, how tissues pattern mechanical forces to sculpt stereotyped, complex 3D organ shapes remains a core scientific mystery. We study the mechanical processes that link genes to geometry, using advanced microscopy techniques, genetics, computer vision, differential geometry, and analytic approaches. Current projects aim to understand chiral symmetry breaking of the embryonic gut, cytoskeletal mechanics driven by cellular pulses of calcium, Ising-like behavior in mosaic tissues composed of heterogeneous cellular populations, multiscale mechanical folding of the primitive gut, and mechanical feedback in heart tube coiling. 

After a PhD in physics from the University of Chicago, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, then returned to UChicago in 2024. The lab values curiosity, creativity, and courage to tackle cross-disciplinary perspectives. 

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Allison Squires (PME)

https://squireslab.uchicago.edu/

The Squires Group's research centers on sensing, imaging, and manipulating nanoscale processes in biophysics and other complex systems. We engineer new windows and handles for the nanoscale that allow us to directly interact with molecules and particles one at a time, so that we can measure their unique features, watch them in action, and control their movements and interactions.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

10:00 am - 10:30 am Informational Session with Jennifer Hart 

In addition to the general information of the Crerar library by Jennifer Hart, you will be shown some areas which are normally inaccessible to students. 

The Library offers access to physics journal subscriptions, books and other resources, most available online.   We also offer services such as paging and scanning of materials and assistance with questions about finding information and how to organize your work and data. More information about what is available and how to access our collections and services (both on and off campus) is in our physics guide.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

11:00 am - 11:30 am Risi Kondor (Computer Science)

https://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~risi/

Professor Kondor's group is focused on fundamental methodological developments in machine learning, specifically machine learning for physics and chemistry. Much of their work is related to computational harmonic analysis and group representation theory. They are responsible for some foundational work on equivariant neural networks. They are also engaged in developing high performance, open source software in both C++ and Python.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

12:00 pm - 12:30 pm Lunch 

KPTC 206

12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Dahlia Klein (Physics)

https://voices.uchicago.edu/kleinlab/

Our lab combines the fabrication of nanoscale devices from atomically thin 2D materials with the development of a new type of cryogenic scanning probe microscope to investigate key questions in quantum condensed matter physics. This microscope enables the formation of a dynamically controllable interface between 2D materials that can be scanned and rotated in real time, allowing us to directly image electronic behavior in both real and momentum space. With this unique approach, we probe how electron interactions, topology, and magnetism give rise to exotic electronic phases in 2D quantum matter.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Philippe Guyot-Sionnest (Physics)

https://pgslab.uchicago.edu/

Chemistry and physics share tremendous potential at the nanoscale. This is where chemistry excels and where physics predicts that many properties can be tuned. For example, charging properties, spins, phonons, and plasmons show pronounced effects in this regime. We investigate these fundamental states in nanocrystal quantum dots created by colloidal synthetic chemistry. Alongside basic studies utilizing optical spectroscopies, electrochemistry and transport measurements, we also integrate nanocrystals into optoelectronic devices for applications in infrared imaging and light emission. Our research is motivated by physical concepts and enabled by advances in chemical synthesis.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Tian Zhong (PME)

https://sites.google.com/view/zhonglab-quantum/research?authuser=0

Tian Zhong is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. His areas of research expertise are in quantum photonics, quantum information and networking, solid-state quantum technologies, and hybrid quantum systems. Professor Zhong’s research focuses on developing enabling nanoscale photonic and solid-state (e.g. rare-earth-ion doped crystals) technologies for building quantum hardware to realize scalable quantum networks, hybrid quantum computing and sensing systems.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm John Carlstrom (Astronomy & Astrophysics)

https://astrophysics.uchicago.edu/people/profile/john-e.-carlstrom/

Observational cosmology using new instruments to measure the temperature and polarization anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effects. Director of the 10 meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) project, which completed the 2500 square degrees SPT-SZ survey in three bands at arc minute resolution, and the SPTpol survey of 500 square degrees in two bands to unprecedented sensitivity. We have now deployed SPT-3G with 16,260 bolometric detectors to make deep polarization maps over 2500 square degrees. In addition to increased precision on cosmological parameters and probing Inflation, the SPT data allows investigations of extensions to the standard model, such as the number and masses of the neutrinos, and the nature of dark energy. Furthermore, the high resolution of the SPT measurements allows us to detect directly the emergence and evolution of structure in the universe through the subtle, small-angular scale distortions they impart on the background, such as gravitational lensing from the mass in the universe and the scattering from ionized gas (the SZ effects). 

Through a joint Chicago/Argonne superconducting detector development collaboration, the SPT group bulit the focal plane for SPT-3G, with 16,260 detectors to increase the polarization mapping speed by an order of magnitude over SPTpol. We are now working toward scaling up detector fabrication and testing for the 500,000 detector CMB-S4 project.

I am also working on the CMB-S4, the next generation CMB ground based instrument. I am co-chair of the Interim Collaboration Coordination Committee. 

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

9:00 am - 10:00 am Divisional Orientation with the Dean of Students Office

The Division plans to host an in-person orientation event at the Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St) on September 24, 2025 from 9:00 am - 10:00 am. Students will have the opportunity to meet Dean of Students Office staff and other faculty and staff from the Division. This event is not required, but attendance is encouraged. Please complete this brief survey to let them know you will be attending! 

This event is open to all invitees regardless of vaccination status and, because of ongoing health risks to the unvaccinated, those who are unvaccinated are expected to adopt the risk mitigation measures advised by public health officials (masking and social distancing, etc.) Public convening may not be safe for all and carries a risk for contracting COVID-19, particularly for those unvaccinated. Participants will not know the vaccination status of others, including venue staff, and should follow appropriate risk mitigation measures.

Online Dean of Students Orientation Session

The Division will provide online orientation materials (via Canvas) that incoming graduate students can review at their own pace. Incoming students should have received an email invitation to access the Canvas materials in early August. 

10:30 am - 12:00 pm Campus Tour 

A special campus tour will be led by Jack Begley, Audrey Scott, Lambert Kong, Shoshana Chipman, Muneeza Munawar, Malcolm Slutzky

Outside of Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St)

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch

*you have the option to attend the Division lunch or our department lunch. 

KPTC 206 (department lunch)

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Aaron Esser-Kahn 

https://www.esser-kahnlab.org/

At our core, we are a lab that believes in interdisciplinarity: our team of biologists, chemists, and biophysicists consider how putting our minds together can improve thinking across many areas of vaccine development, materials science, and carbon capture.

How can we make a large societal and global change by understanding the small?  Our lab is motivated by problems that can lead to major changes in understanding of vaccine development, carbon capture, and materials science.  Although these fields may seem dissimilar, they all require detailed and often multi-disciplinary understanding of molecular systems, mechanisms, and underlying principles.  Our dedicated team of biologists, chemists, physicists, computer scientists, and engineers are bringing our unique perspectives and skills together to tackle many important research questions.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

Thursday, September 25, 2025

9:30 am - 12:00 pm  PHYS 300 Workshop on the Teaching and Learning of Physics 

This workshop will provide students with tools to developing and utilizing skills to be a more effective Teaching Assistant. It is required for all Teaching Assistants to participate. Research Assistants and Fellows are strongly encouraged to attend so that you will be eligible to hold Teaching Assistantships in the future.

KPTC 103 and 105

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm  Student Presentations on Various Topics (Created by Scott Mackey)

A "fireslide" session where current students will give a quick presentation about their research and/or other things

KPTC 206

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Zhen Tian (BSD)

https://radonc.uchicago.edu/faculty/zhen-tian

Dr. Zhen Tian is an Assistant Professor and board-certified Medical Physicist in the department of Radiation & Cellular Oncology at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence and parallel computing to advance radiotherapy. She has developed expertise in GPU-based iterative low dose image reconstruction, ultra-fast Monte Carlo dose calculation and microscopic Monte Carlo simulation, AI-based autoplanning for radiotherapy. She has been awarded a R37 grant and a R01 grant from NIH.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Aaron Chou (Fermi Lab)

Aaron Chou’s research focuses on developing quantum sensors to study ultra-weakly-coupled dark sectors of the universe.  He was the Cosmic Frontier convener for the APS-DPF Snowmass 2021 community planning effort.  He currently serves as deputy head of Fermilab’s Quantum Division, as the Devices/Sensors thrust lead for the Quantum Science Center (one of 5 DOE National Quantum Initiative Science Research Centers), and as lead PI for a multi-institutional DOE “QuantISED” quantum sensor consortium targeting dark matter detection.  Current research interests include 1) detecting axion dark matter with superconducting qubits, 2) detecting dark radiation from dark energy relaxation using Cooper-pair boxes, and 3) developing gravitational wave detectors based on high magnetic fields in order to probe early universe cosmological phase transitions and quantum gravity.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm David Miller (Physics)

http://millerlab.uchicago.edu/

The Miller Lab explores the properties of fundamental particles at the edge of current technologies, ranging from the highest energy particle collisions ever produced in a lab at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland using the novel instrumentation of the ATLAS Experiment, to searches for axion-like particles using small-scale experiments, to building dedicated high-speed electronics and real-time data processing, and cutting-edge data analysis and machine learning algorithms. Recent efforts in the Miller Lab on the ATLAS experiment have focused on operating the ATLAS level 1 trigger system for Run 3, designing triggers for the HL-LHC, measuring detailed properties of jets and jet substructure, and searching for new particles. In the arena of machine learning, we’re working on symmetry-group based architectures that provide interpretable physics-informed outputs, and allow for a principled approach to both classification and regression tasks. Our new efforts in searching for dark matter include both dark photons and axions using the BREAD (Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection) experiment. 

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Sarah King (Chemistsry)

https://kinglab.uchicago.edu/

Sarah King's research aims to investigate how the nanoscale and mesoscale structure of organic, inorganic, and biological materials influences electronic structure, excited state dynamics, chemical reactivity, and functionality.

Presentation will be held in KPTC 206. This is an optional session. 

Friday, September 26, 2025

9:30 am - 12:00 pm  PHYS 300 Workshop on the Teaching and Learning of Physics 

This workshop will provide students with tools to developing and utilizing skills to be a more effective Teaching Assistant. It is required for all Teaching Assistants to participate. Research Assistants and Fellows are strongly encouraged to attend so that you will be eligible to hold Teaching Assistantships in the future.

KPTC 103 and 105