UChicago Division of the Physical Sciences

Prof. Giulia Galli has been appointed CNRS Fellow-Ambassador, honoring her global leadership in materials modeling and quantum simulation. 🎉
https://pme.uchicago.edu/news/prof-giulia-galli-appointed-cnrs-fellow-ambassador

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.

Are Students Hiding Their AI Use? The Social Stigma Behind AI Use in the Classroom - Department of Computer Science In today’s day and age, the use of AI has almost become ubiquitous across many different fields and platforms. It has evolved so quickly that many institutions, whether for work or education, are still learning how to deal with it. In universities and education-based settings, for example, many te...

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.
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/many-planets-might-be-soot-factories-according-new-study

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.
https://news.uchicago.edu/big-brains-podcast-quantum-technology-explained-big-brains-live-event

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.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-catalog-the-fractal-dimensions-of-more-than-130-000-islands/

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

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!
https://physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article/frank-calegari-young-kee-kim-royal-society/

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.

https://physicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/article/a-stable-solution/

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.

https://cs.uchicago.edu/news/unmasking-ai-music-quicksilver-and-the-ethical-movement-behind-it/

Quantum technology, explained: A Big Brains live event UChicago scientists demystify quantum, separate hype from reality, and explore potential applications—from cybersecurity to medical sensors to computers