CWRU Department of Physics

Distinguished CWRU Professor Robert Brown was inducted last week as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), one of the highest professional honors recognizing academic inventors and innovators.

Professor Brown received the NAI medal during the ceremony, as shown in the accompanying photo. A screen projection highlighted his image alongside the inscription: “For his work and dedication to improving healthcare and saving lives.”

The NAI conference featured the induction of its newest class of Fellows and was marked by a celebratory “Walkway of Stars” and a gala dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck.

Professor Brown and his family also had the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends from across the years, including Nobel laureates and leading innovators in industry and technology, at the evening reception.

We’re glad to see Professor Brown receiving this well-earned recognition!

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Check out another fantastic submission to our Beauty in Physics art competition! This piece, titled The Fluid Dynamics of Attraction, was created by Amber Tilling-Richards.

Even wondered how a moth sends a love letter? These stunning, swirling patterns reveal otherwise invisible air currents carrying pheromones to the Oriental Fruit Moth, triggering its courtship dance.

Using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Amber captures microscopic particles suspended in air that are illuminated by a laser sheet and tracked with a high-speed camera, making the hidden flow visible. The result is a mesmerizing display of turbulent plumes and elegant vortices, transforming a biological instinct into a striking visualization of physics.

Amazing work Amber!

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Congratulations to Chloe Meyer, an undergraduate physics major at CWRU, on being named a recipient of the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship!

Chloe conducts research in the Chakrapani Lab, where she studies the structure and function of glycine and serotonin receptors with applications to understanding neurological and developmental disorders. This national recognition highlights her outstanding achievements in research and her dedication to advancing scientific discovery.

We are proud to celebrate Chloe and this well earned honor!

Read about more about her in the Daily: https://case.edu/news/cwru-undergraduate-chloe-meyer-named-recipient-prestigious-barry-goldwater-scholarship?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thedaily_awards

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CWRU Physics graduate student Akeshi Aththanayake has been selected as a Student Ambassador for the American Physical Society's (APS) 2026-27 Student Ambassador Program! Akeshi will help connect students with APS resources and strengthen the physics community at CWRU. Read more here: https://www.aps.org/about/news/2026/05/2026-27-student-ambassadors-cohort

This latest achievement adds to an already impressive year for Akeshi, who was recently recognized with the Department of Physics' Award for Outstanding Research at CWRU's Graduate Student Awards Ceremony.

The award, formally known as the Mary Chilton Noyes Award for Outstanding Research, honors Mary Chilton Noyes, the first woman in the United States to earn a PhD in physics, receiving her degree from Western Reserve in 1894.

Akeshi also earned 3rd place in the department's Beauty in Physics competition. The award-winning images are featured below.

Congratulations, Akeshi, on these outstanding accomplishments!

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Scientific American recently published an article highlighting research conducted by Case Western Reserve University Physics researchers who are part of the Collaboration for Observations, Models and Predictions of Anomalies and Cosmic Topology (COMPACT). Our very own Professor Glenn Starkman serves as the unofficial lead of the collaboration.

The article discusses COMPACT's mission to explore possible global topologies of our universe. For decades, cosmologists have largely embraced the idea of a flat, infinite universe, or one so close to infinite that the distinction is negligible. COMPACT is challenging that assumption by investigating a wide range of alternative Euclidean topologies that could describe the true shape and structure of the cosmos.

Read the Scientific American article here:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-thought-we-knew-the-shape-of-the-universe-we-were-wrong/

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We thought we knew the shape of the universe. We were wrong Decades of data have suggested the universe is flat, much like an infinite plane. But a new analysis reveals deep flaws in that simple conclusion

Thank you, Physics Seniors, for an amazing 4 years!

On Thursday the Department of Physics held its annual gathering celebrating our graduating seniors! This moment is both meaningful and bittersweet for our department. While we will miss the students we've come to know so well over the years, we are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and are excited for their futures!

The celebration included a poster session centered on senior research projects, dinner in Little Italy, and Professor Bob Brown's traditional narration of stories about each student. Janet Brown presented the gifts of books, with each senior receiving an individual selection carefully curated just for them. We learned where the students come from, their degrees and minors, where they plan to go after graduation, and wonderful personal stories about each. Special thanks to the faculty, especially the capstone advisors, who provided anecdotes and gift ideas.

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The 6th edition of NANOPLASM Conference, a high-profile international conference series launched in 2014 and chaired by professor Giuseppe Strangi from the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University, will bring together an extraordinary international lineup of leaders in optics, photonics, plasmonics, metamaterials, and quantum nanoscience. Over the years, NANOPLASM has established itself as a premier forum at the frontier of light–matter interaction and nanophotonic science. The NANOPLASM 2026 conference will take place in the stunning setting of Cetraro-Italy, on the Tyrrhenian coast, hosting discussions on transformative advances in quantum and topological photonics, extreme optical materials, nonlinear and chiral nanostructures, AI-driven photonic design, and emerging technologies shaping the future of photonics and life sciences.

Find more information at https://www.nanoplasmconference.com

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Congratulations to our undergraduate physics majors Daniel Passmore ('26) and Rae Dugger ('25) on their National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) honorable mentions!🎉💫👏🏾Daniel and Rae are part of the 9 awardees and 6 honorable mentions in the 2026 GRFP class from Case Western Reserve University overall! Daniel is shown here at Case's recent Intersections poster session with his senior research project 'Evolutionary Dynamics of MicroRNA Noise Filters' advised by Prof. Michael Hinczewski. Rae is now an applied physics PhD student at the University of Michigan. Her 'Field Inversion Asymmetry of Dynamic Radical Pair Systems' senior research project was advised by Prof. Peter H**e (Chemistry, University of Oxford) and Prof. Lydia Kisley.

The CWRU Department of Physics ran a multiweek GRFP Writing Bootcamp in the fall of 2025 to help students from all departments develop their applications and apply to graduate programs. We plan to run the bootcamp in the future to support CWRU undergraduate and graduate students in writing competitive fellowships.

The NSF GRFP is one of the nation's most prestigious fellowship programs. Out of a highly competitive pool of nearly 14,000 applicants nationwide, NSF awarded 2,500 fellowships and an additional 1,470 applicants were named as Honorable Mentions. For more than 75 years, GRFP has played a critical role in developing the talent pipeline required for sustaining U.S. leadership in science.

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Associate Professor Lydia Kisley will be the guest panelist in the ThinkForum and Alumni Association of Case Western Reserve University's virtual book club, CWRU Page Turners on Monday, May 4 at 3 p.m. In this installment, CWRU Page Turners will discuss The Beauty of Falling by Claudia de Rham, featured speaker for CWRU's 2026 Millis Lecture. This conversation will be facilitated by Karen F. Kaler. Learn more and register here: https://case.edu/alumni/stay-involved/cwru-page-turners

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