UChicago Geophysical Sciences

Data analyzed by Prof. Edwin Kite and Grad student Brandon Coy reveals distant exoplanet Kua’kua is dark and rocky, offering clues in the search for habitable worlds:

Scientists get best-ever look at distant planet’s surface with Webb Telescope Data analyzed by UChicago scientists reveals exoplanet Kua’kua is dark and rocky, offering clues to search for habitable worlds

A project led by Associate Prof. Pedram Hassanzadeh and Nobel laureate Michael Kremer was selected as the inaugural winner of the prestigious Laude Moonshots grant:

UChicago team wins funding to develop AI weather forecasts for underserved areas Laude Moonshot program awards Data Science Institute and partners seed funding for forecasts to help communities in developing economies

Part-Time Prof. Alexandra Worden honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her groundbreaking research in ocean biogeochemistry:

MBL scientist Alexandra Z. Worden honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship Alexandra Z. Worden, Senior Scientist in the Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory and a Professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship this week, in recognition of her groundbreaking research in ocean biogeochem...

Led by UChicago postdoc Ava Ghezelayagh with collaborators Prof. David Jablonski and Stewart Edie (Smithsonian curator and DoGS PhD), researchers explore how evolutionary lineages have conquered deep-sea habitats:

How Did Animals Conquer the Deep Sea? Mussels and Clams Point to Two Different Strategies New research shows why some shelly critters flourished in the ocean's harshest habitats — and others didn't

Scientists pair A.I. and human knowledge to tackle notoriously difficult physics question. This new approach, led by Associate Prof. Pedram Hassanzadeh, may help shed light on turbulence as well as other stubborn natural mysteries:

Scientists pair AI and human knowledge to tackle notoriously difficult physics question New approach may help shed light on turbulence, other stubborn natural mysteries

Led by Assistant Prof. B.B. Cael, a new UChicago study analyzed decades of climate disaster deadliness and found a mix of progress and growing risk:

What decades of data reveal about climate disaster deaths UChicago-led study analyses 2,000 deadly events worldwide since 1988

Want to learn more about pursuing a PhD in Geophysical Sciences? Join our info session on Dec. 2

2025 Geophysical Sciences Info Session  

Co-developed by UChicago’s Pedram Hassanzadeh, an artificial intelligence-based weather model delivered a timely prediction of a stalled monsoon this season, helping farmers decide when to plant their crops:

Artificial intelligence is helping Indian farmers adapt to climate change—forecast accurately predicting an unusual monsoon season reached 38 million Thirty-eight million farmers across India received forecasts this summer accurately predicting the start of the rainy season. This forecast, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), was tailored to farmers’ needs, providing them with advance prediction of the rainy season earlier than ever before....

Life On Mars: Is It Possible For Humans? Prof. Edwin Kite talks about the possibility of terraforming Mars for human habitability on UChicago’s Big Brain’s podcast.

Life on Mars: Is it possible for humans? with Edwin Kite Scientist examines how we could terraform Mars make the Red Planet habitable

A new study from researchers including Prof. David Keith proposes a novel way to reach unexplored, near-space zone: Lightweight flying structures that use sunlight to levitate.

Levitating disks could open a new window into the Earth’s upper atmosphere Devices can levitate powered only by sunlight, could explore little-known areas