News Archive

Human Cancer Cell, figure explained in caption.

Puchner and Noireaux labs discover new photochemistry useful for live-cell single-molecule microscopy

Posted

Professors Elias Puchner and Vincent Noireaux of the School, along with their research groups, have shown that a popular class of fluorescent dyes changes color under certain conditions, causing complications for its use in biological imaging.

Wen Han Kao
General

Kao Receives APS Dissertation Award

Posted

Dr. Wen-Han Kao, (Ph.D Physics 2024) a former student of Prof. Natalia Perkins, has been named one of only two recipients of the prestigious Dissertation Award from the American Physical Society's Group on Magnetism and its Applications (GMAG).

Pribiag group standing in front of nanofabrication lab in the Physics and Nanotechnology building
Research, Research News

A Pair of Pioneering Quantum Devices: Catching up with the Pribiag Group

Posted

Two new major research efforts from Professor Vlad Pribiag’s group outlined in a pair of high profile articles. 

 Four physicists kneel side by side with tubes of varying length forming a piano.
General

Physics Force Receives 2025 Societal Impact Award 

Posted

The Physics Force, an outreach group currently in its fortieth year of bringing exciting physics demonstrations to K-12 students, has received a 2025 Societal Impact Award from the University of Minnesota’s Office for Public Engagement.

Rand Bovard
Research, Research News

Physics undergraduate receives “Essential Contribution” award for his work on CMS Upgrade

Posted

Rand Bovard, an undergraduate physics major working with Professors Nadja Strobbe and Jeremiah Mans in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment received a 2024 CMS Detector Upgrade Essential Contribution Award for his work on the Calorimeter Endcap Upgrade.

Students gather for their SSRL review.
Research, Research News

Undergraduate EXACT project aimed improving space navigation

Posted

Undergraduate Students at the Small Satellite Research Laboratory working on the Experiment for X-ray Navigation, Characterization and Timing (EXACT) underwent a review and site visit by the Air Force Research Laboratory at the end of 2024. The group passed their review with flying colors according to School of Physics and Astronomy Professor, Lindsay Glesener, faculty advisor to the Laboratory. The review covered the design phase of the project and means that the group can move forward with the testing phase of their design.

Ben Margalit
General, Research, Research News

Margalit part of team that wins Scialog Award in early LSST research

Posted

Assistant Professor Ben Margalit of the School of Physics and Astronomy was part of a team that won an award from the first year of the Scialog: Early Science from the LSST from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA).

Sarah Taft person with curly hair smiling
General

Taft Wins Chambliss Student Award for Astrophysics Research

Posted

Sarah Taft, a Ph.D. student at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, has been honored with the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award for her outstanding poster presentation at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in National Harbor, Maryland, this past January. The award recognizes exceptional research conducted by undergraduate and graduate students who present at AAS conferences.

Parker Solar Probe with the sun in the background

Parker Solar Probe makes closest pass to the sun yet

Posted

The Parker Space Probe (PSP), launched in 2018, was designed to take measurements at the closest distance to the sun ever attempted.

Alex Kamenev and Yasha Gindikin
Research, Research News

FTPI Researchers Uncover New Mechanism for Unconventional Superconductivity

Posted

Fine Theoretical Physics Institute postdoc researcher Yasha Gindikin and Professor Alex Kamenev recently published a paper highlighted by Physics Magazine for its potential to reshape our understanding of how electrons pair and form exotic correlated phases.