News: Faculty

Congratulations to the Physics faculty members who have received NSF CAREER Awards. According to the NSF, the prestigious CAREER award supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

Young-Kee Kim, the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute, has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences.

Congratulations to the PSD community members who have been recognized with 2026 Frontiers of Science Awards. Michael Levin, Professor in Physics and the JFI, and Physics alum Carolyn Zhang, PhD'23, are recognized for the field of condensed matter physics. Yoav Afik, a postdoctoral scholar in the EFI who works on the ATLAS experiment, is recognized for research in particle physics phenomenology.

How UChicago physicists delayed the formation of viscous fingers between fluids.

Physicist Clay Córdova has been named a recipient of the 2026 New Horizons in Physics Prize for his work in quantum field theory.
The New Horizons prize, which is given to early-career scientists and mathematicians who have already made a substantial impact on their fields, includes an award of $100,000.

Project Hail Mary is a story about science saving the world. In March, the University of Chicago and Argonne teamed up to celebrate the science of Project Hail Mary with offerings for science and science-fiction fans.

A novel experiment at UChicago reveals fundamental laws governing swirling fluids.

Dark matter is a substance that has gravity—it holds galaxies together—but cannot be directly seen with any instrument yet created. Scientists are trying many different approaches to find the nature of this mysterious substance.

Congratulations to Vincenzo Vitelli and Carlos E.M. Wagner, who were named 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their distinguished contributions to the sciences. 

Ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves may be the key to solving the Hubble tension — one of the biggest nagging problems in physics.

Bonnie Fleming has joined UChicago as professor of physics, effective March 10. Previously, Fleming served as Fermilab’s Deputy Director for Science and Technology and Chief Research Officer and a part-time University of Chicago faculty member with appointments in the Physics Department and the Enrico Fermi Institute. Read a Q&A with our newest full-time physics professor.

The University of Chicago Library exhibit "Binding Energy: Books by Chicago Physics Faculty" explores the work of researchers from Enrico Fermi to the only woman on the Pile-1 team.

New infrared light sources mark 100-fold efficiency boost, could improve broad range of sensors, technology.