University of Michigan Physics Department

How are U-M researchers pushing the frontiers of particle physics? By harnessing machine learning! Physicists at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts—led by Professor Tom Schwarz, research fellow Greg Myers, Ph.D. student Tamas Baer, and team—are using AI to analyze complex data. Their innovative approach has achieved record-setting sensitivity in the search for new physics, helping test our fundamental understanding of the universe.
https://myumi.ch/bDDVQ

The University of Michigan Board of Regents announced Dr. C. Cybele Raver as its choice to become the university’s 17th president. The Board will hold a special meeting on Sept. 1 to take a formal vote. Pending approval, Dr. Raver’s appointment will take effect Dec. 1. Dr. Raver, currently the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University, is a nationally recognized leader in higher education. myumi.ch/xjwJm

University of Michigan physicists, working with the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility, have created an "electron lighthouse." But instead of using a rotating lamp to beam light, it can create a directional beam of electrons within a semiconductor.

"This isn't the way things normally work," said Steve Cundiff, a professor with the University of Michigan Physics Department.

Having this type of control could open up new applications in fields like sensing, imaging and telecommunications that bridge optics and electronics.

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Congrats to alumnus & Professor Stephen Forrest on his election to the Royal Society!
His work bridges physics, engineering & tech, underpinning the fiber optics, OLED displays, and next-gen photovoltaics we use today and tomorrow. Link to Michigan Engineering story: myumi.ch/DWG11 University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

UK's Royal Society elects Stephen Forrest, engineer and entrepreneur Forrest's work underpins commercial fiber-optic communications and OLED displays, with an eye to future generations of photovoltaics.

Prof. Dragan Huterer received the Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award from the U-M Rackham Graduate School! He credits his students: “Working with them has been the most rewarding part of being a professor.” (Shown: Prof. Huterer w/ Dean Mike Solomon) University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

We are thrilled to announce that University of Michigan physics professor Lu Li has been named to the elite 2026 class of Brown Investigators!
Announced by the Brown Institute for Basic Sciences at Caltech, this prestigious award provides up to $2 million over five years. Professor Li will utilize this support to develop pioneering methods probing the electronic states of insulators—potentially opening an entirely new field in solid-state physics.
Join us in celebrating this outstanding milestone for LSA and the university's scientific community! 💙💛
🔗 Read more at this link: https://myumi.ch/kV365 University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

U-M Physicist Lu Li Receives Prestigious 2026 National Brown Investigator Award | U-M LSA Physics Each investigator, recognized for curiosity-driven research in chemistry or physics, will receive up to $2 million over five years.

Several University of Michigan Physics Department physicists will share the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics: https://myumi.ch/NX1XP via MLive.com

University of Michigan physicists win $3M international scientific prize The 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics recognizes members of the Muon g-2 Collaboration, a team of more than 200 scientists working across three laboratories over five decades.

Using extremely large photonic crystals, physicists directly observed and quantified higher-order scattering from stealthy-hyperuniformity. In the stealthy regime, multiple scattering diminishes the material’s transparency.

The study was conducted by Weizhe Zhang, Youngjun Ahn, Liuyan Zhao, and colleagues in the University of Michigan Physics Department and of and collaborators at and Rutgers University.

University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

🔗 https://go.aps.org/4nhNGug

The Department of Physics is proud to celebrate Maximilian Jerdee (Ph.D. ’25) for receiving the 2025 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award! 🎓

Max’s award-winning dissertation, "Inference and Information in Network Structure," bridges complex mathematical and physical frameworks, revolutionizing our understanding of social hierarchies and human interactions. His work provides a new, systematic way to compare networks across different societies.

Peers and faculty alike praise Max for his scientific brilliance and clear, thoughtful communication. Join us in congratulating Max on this incredible achievement and his bright future ahead! 〽️

Join us in celebrating the two research teams led by Professors Camille Avestruz and Christian Herwig, who were recently honored with the "Empowering Research with AI" award by the AI Institutes at Michigan (AIIM). These awards recognize innovative projects that integrate artificial intelligence to advance scientific discovery.
We are proud to see our LSA researchers at the forefront of this evolving field!
Read more about their winning projects and the AIIM awards here: https://myumi.ch/W6Vzb
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts