News Archive
School welcomes Professor Oskar Vafek
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Meet Oskar Vafek, a new Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy's Fine Theoretical Physics Institute.
Janssen wins Abraham Pais Prize
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Professor Michel Janssen of the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Program in History of Science, Technology and Medicine has won the American Physical Society (APS) 2026 Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics.
DOE's quantum center SQMS Renewal Fuels UMN's Hunt for Dark Photons
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $125 million, five-year renewal for the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) Center, a national research center led by DOE's Fermilab. As a partner of the SQMS center since 2021, the University of Minnesota will play a critical, ongoing role in leveraging the center's cutting-edge technology to search for new discoveries in fundamental physics.
Discovery of robust negative dispersion of polaritons could lead to a new nano optics probe
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Brayden Lukaskawcez, third year Ph.D. student in the School of Physics and Astronomy, is a lead author on a recent paper reporting the results of an experiment that observed abundant negative dispersion of polaritons for the first time.
Megan Schoenzeit (B.S. '25) recognized by APS and NSF awards programs
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School of Physics and Astronomy alum Megan Schoenzeit ('25) recognized by two of the most prestigious awards programs for undergraduates in physics.
UMN and MIT launch first real-time machine learning search for colliding black holes
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A joint effort between the University of Minnesota and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has achieved the first end-to-end, real-time search for binary black hole (BBH) mergers based entirely on machine learning.
Huberty the focus of UMN Brief story about Tate Observatory
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School of Physics and Astronomy third-year Ph.D. student, Mason Huberty, was the focus of a story about the Tate Observatory and other outreach efforts by the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics.
Physics Undergrad leading small satellite project profiled by College of Science and Engineering
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Physics Major, Kelsey Henry was the subject of an in-depth feature article by the College of Science and Engineering. The story includes a video of the small satellite lab and interview with Henry about her work on the project.
University of Minnesota to serve as host institution for prestigious fellowship in planetary astronomy
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The University of Minnesota has been selected as a host institution for the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship in planetary astronomy.
Alien Aurora: Lysak, Sulaiman and Elliott find new plasma regime in Jupiter’s aurora
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Professor Robert Lysak, Assistant Professor Ali Sulaiman and Researcher Sadie Elliott, of the School of Physics and Astronomy recently published a paper in Physics Review Letters, “New Plasma Regime in Jupiter’s Auroral Zones,” on the first-ever detailed observation and analysis of a new type of plasma wave in Jupiter’s auroral zone.