Physics News Archive
2020
- Physics professor Philippe Piot named chair of the international science panel. (Dec. 7, 2020)
- Graduate student Brianna Stamas won a prestigious DOE SCGSR award to fund her work at Argonne National Laboratory. (Nov. 18, 2020)
- NIU named to list of top universities worldwide. Executive Vice President and Provost Beth Ingram said, " We are gratified to be recognized among a prestigious group of research universities, and are particularly gratified that our physics program achieved an individual program ranking". (Nov. 9, 2020)
- Congratulations, Jeremiah Mitchell and Sebastian Szustkowski for their achievements both for completing their Ph.D.’s at NIU as well as securing employment at prestigious national and international institutes. Jeremiah will be working as a Post-doctoral Research Associate for the University of Cambridge and supported by their Kavli Institute funds. Sebastian has accepted an Accelerator Physics Postdoc position at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Both are advised by Prof. Chattopadhyay (Oct. 29, 2020)
- The deans of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences selected Nathanael Dille (’19) as a recipient of the Deans’ Award for his outstanding scholastic achievements, involvement and contributions to the physics department. Congratulations, Nathanael! (Sept. 28, 2020)
- The Physics Department is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 Chittipeddi scholarships, which provide financial support to outstanding students pursuing undergraduate degrees in physics at Northern Illinois University. This year's recipients are Emily Calgaro, August Lee, and Sebastian Perez Osorio. We congratulate them on their academic achievements that led to this award. (Aug. 18, 2020)
- Professor Larry Lurio has been elected for the Executive Committee, vice-chair of the American Physical Society (APS) Prairie section. (Jan. 22, 2020)
2019
- Spring 2020 Masters qualifying exam and Ph.D. candidacy examination information have been updated. (December 17, 2019)
- NIU Graduate Council Recognizes Two Physics Students, M. Krogstad, PhD and L. Rice, M.S., with Outstanding Dissertation and Thesis Awards of 2018/19 in the STEM and health sciences category. (October 28, 2019)
- Professor Carol Thompson and collaborators at Argonne National Lab have published an article in Nature Physics. (March 4, 2019)
- Professor Zhili Xiao and NIU graduate student Jing Xu together with a team from Argonne National Lab have published an article in Nature Communications revealing a unique form of magneto resistance. (January 24, 2019)
- Adjunct NIU Physics Professor Pushpa Bhat was elected as the physics representative to the council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (January 24, 2019)
2018
Physics REU Summer 2019 at University of Washington, Seattle June 17 - August 23, 2019. (December 3, 2018)
NIU Physics Summer REU program takes a tour at
Nanotechnology published an article with Xu as co-lead author. Zhili Xiao is the corresponding author on the article, which was highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. (July 2, 2018)
Professor Omar Chmaissem and Physics Graduate Student Matt Krogstad make an important discovery about the structure of Ferroelectric Materials. (June 27, 2018)
Professor Winkler watches holes spinning round in unusual ways. (June 27, 2018)
In a magnetic field (inset, black arrow) the hole spin (blue arrow) precesses about an axis (red arrow) that is not aligned with the field. The experimental fingerprint for this becomes a Kerr signal (main panel) that oscillates and decays as a function of time.
(May 7, 2018) Tyler Burch wins prestigious Department of Energy Award.
(April 24, 2018) Congratulations to Osama Mohsen for being selected as one of the representatives of the Graduate Student Advisory Committee (GSAC) for
(April 12, 2018) Congratulations to Dr. Philippe Piot (Board of Trustees Professor, 2018) and Dr. Vishnu Zutshi (Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor, 2018). Awards ceremony to be held at Altgeld Auditorium, April 19, 3-5 pm.
(April 9. 2018) Trip to Field Museum (April 7, 2018)
(April 6, 2018) Dr. David Hedin,
(March 27, 2018) Featured Expert: Dr. Jahred Adelman
By day, physics professor Jahred Adelman helps scientist around the world sort out the mysteries of the sub-atomic world. But he can also apply that knowledge why
Congratulations to Matthew Andorf (2018 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Ph.D.), Prudhvi Bhattiprolu (2018 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Master's), Anusorn Lueangaramwong (2018 Dissertation Completion Fellowship), Tilak Malla (Graduate School Fellowship Award 2018-2019)
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science is pleased to announce that the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2018 Solicitation 1. Applications are due
2017
- (10/31/2017) Electron Beam Project could have security and environmental applications.
- (10/05/2017) Congratulations to Daniel Boyden for winning DOE award.
- (9/11/2017) Fermilab, NIU faculty and student scientists reap benefits.
- (7/14/2017) Dr. Philippe Piot appointed to national panel on Basics Energy Sciences Advisory Committee(BESAC).
- (6/12/2017) USPAS sponsored by Northern Illinois University June 12-23, 2017, Lisle, Illinois
- (4/24/2017) Dr. Nestor Zaluzec received a Distinguished Scientist Awards from the Microscopy Society of America.
- (4/18/2017) The Physics Graduate Student Association is pleased to declare Anthony Colangelo the winner of the Physics Undergraduate Competition held on the 12th of April, 2017 and awarded a cash prize of one hundred dollars! Second place goes to Brendan Steffens and third to Wataru Hashimoto.
- (4/11/2017) Congratulations to Dr. Blazey, new vice president of the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships.
- (3/31/2017) Michael Syphers named to national panel on high-energy physics
- (3/24/2017) Blake Burghgrave has been awarded the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award (for Physics).
- (3/6/2017) "Energy and the Environment: The Keystone Pipeline and Green Issues in a New Political Landscape" Public Forum pictures of Dr. Larry Lurio - Dr. Swapan Chattopadhyay - Dr. Melissa Lenczewski - Dr. Luis Marin.
- (2/16/2017) APS Physical Review B - Editor's suggestion - E. Marcelina, A.R. Hamilton, Roland Winkler and D. Culcer.
- (2/9/2017) Physics External Internships and Research Opportunities has moved from the students' page to its own page, which is linked on the students' page as "External Internships and Research Opportunities."
- (2/2/2017) Dr. Adelman is revisiting the Physics of Baseball for the Chicago Council on Science and Technology on Monday, February 6th, 2017 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
- (1/27/2017) Request for Registration Override Form added to academics page on the physics website.
- (1/9/2017) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) Paid Summer Internship Program. Information and Application. Deadline January 25, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. EST
2016
- (11/16/2016) Dr. Jahred Adelman interviewed by WGN on the Physics behind Kris Bryant's masterful swings.
- (10/20/2016) Congratulations to Dr. Francois Lemery who has been named as the recipient of the 2015-2016 outstanding NIU doctoral dissertation award. This is the second year in a row the award was granted to a former PD student in the department of Physics. Dr. Lemery’s dissertation focuses on novel electron-beam acceleration and manipulation techniques using electromagnetic wakefield formed as short electron bunches are passed through dielectric capillary tubes. The techniques are their capability to shape the electron distributions probide impetus to enhance the performance of wakefield accelerator or develop compact x-ray radiation sources such as free-eletron lasers. Dr. Lemery is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Free-Electron laser a joint venture between University of Hamburg and German’s premier national laboratory DESY where he continues his work on novel-acceleration techniques and ultrafast laser science.
- (10/14/2016) Award winning physicist Dr. Swapan Chattopadhyay and Dr. Omar Chmaissem at the top of their game.
- (9/6/2016) NIU Physics graduate student, Blake Burghgrave being selected for the Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award by the DOE Office of Science. Congratulations!
- (8/22/2016) NIU physicits join effort to beam neutrinos 800 miles through the earth. Led by physics professor Vishnu Zutshi, NIU’s contingent earned its spot in the Deep Underground Neutrino Project during the spring. Faculty, graduate students and undergraduates affiliated with NIU’s Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development will team up with about 800 scientists on the project. Also in October 2016 issue of Fermilab Frontiers.
- (8/16/2016) NIU Physics graduate student Matthew Krogstad won the prize for Outstanding Student Poster in the hard condensed matter section at the 2016 American Conference on Neutron Scattering, held from July 10-14 at Long Beach, CA. The poster, ‘Single Crystal Diffuse Scattering from Relaxor (1-x)PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-xPT),’ presents new work describing how diffuse x-ray and neutron scattering data reveal the nuances of local atomic displacements that occur in relaxor ferroelectric materials. The work was performed at Argonne National Laboratory and at national synchrotron and neutron facilities. Matt works under the supervision of NIU physicist Omar Chmaissem and Argonne scientists Drs. Daniel Phelan, Ray Osborn and Stephan Rosenkranz
- (8/11/2016) Greg Alley interviewed by Chicago Tonight about "Enhanced" Perseid Meteor Shower this week.
- (8/11/2016) NIU STEM Outreach - Stargazing at Bliss Creek Golf Course, August 11, 6:30 - 10:30 PM (1 Golfview Lane, Sugar Grove, IL 60554)
- (5/20/2016) A team of ANL and NIU scientists led by our own Dr. Zhili Xiao created 'Writable magnetic charge ice' for new computing technologies. This article is published in Science magazine (2016, Vol 352, p962).
- (5/3/2016) Hottest jobs in physics
- (5/2/2016) Senior Symposium/Outstanding Graduate Student Awards photos.
- (4/26/2016) The Physics Department would like to announce the winners of this year's student awards. Javier Diaz and Alison Peisker shared the Outstanding Senior Award ($100). The Outstanding M.S. Student was awarded to Harsh Deshpande ($100). The Outstanding Ph.D. Student was awarded to Blake Burghgrave and Laxman Thoutam ($100) and the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant was awarded to Aaron Epps and Ryan Churchill-DeRose ($100). Awardees will be honored this Friday at the department senior symposium and awards ceremony.
- (4/19/2016) Outstanding Graduate School Recognition Reception: Outstanding Graduate Student Award: Harsh Deshpande; Dissertation Completion Fellowship Award: Keith M. Taddei; Outstanding Dissertation Award: Stephen Cole.
- (4/18/2016) NIU (Drs. Zutshi, Blazey, Chattopadhyay, Eads) recently joined the DUNE collaboration. This is the next-generation long baseline neutrino experiment, which will send a beam of neutrinos from Fermilab to a 40,000-ton liquid argon detector nearly a mile underground in South Dakota!
- (4/1/2016) Both of our professors Swapan Chattopadhyay and Omar Chmaissem have recently named Presidential Research Professors. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 21, in the Altgeld Auditorium from 3 pm.
- (3/31/2016) NIU Physics Graduate Alumnus Dr. Andy Morrison (now at Joliet Junior College) will be given a Distinguished Service Citation at the upcoming meeting of the Illinois State American Association of PhysicsTeachers (AAPT) meeting (4/22-23/2016, UIUC).
- (3/21/2016) Scientific discovery 2.0. (New center offers supercomputing powers for student, faculty research.)
- (3/8/2016) Celebrating International Woman's Day 2016, NIU physics postdoc Dr. Nansi Andari was featured as one of the 7 inspiring women from the ATLAS experiment on an ATLAS/CERN public article.
- (3/3/2016) NIU Physics department hosted Quarknet Masterclass 2016
- (2/29/2016) Dr. Lurio discusses history of leap year (WGN Midday News)
- (2/11/2016) Professor Steve Martin is featured in NIU Newsroom Homepage, explaining "Why it's a big deal to detect gravitational waves".
- (1/29/2016)Scientists from NIU and Argonne National Laboratory discover exotic magnetic structures in iron-based superconductors.
- (1/29/2016)February 2 | 12:30 PM Have we reached the end of physics? HARRY CLIFF • Despite the best efforts of scientists, we may never be able to explain all the weird features of nature. Is this the end of physics? Learn more in this fascinating talk about the latest research into the secret structure of the universe. CLB 110 (Honors Of_ce)
- 2016 Fall APS Prairie Meeting
2015
- A Thank You card from Girl Scout Troop 1620 to Greg Alley (Observatory Manager).
- Mu2e Building Construction.
- Congratulations to Dr. Stephen Cole whose doctoral dissertation has been recognized by the NIU Graduate Council as the most outstanding dissertation of 2014-2015.
- Assistant Professor Young-Min Shin was recently awarded the MVP (Most Valued Professor) award by the Student-Athlete Academic Support Services.
- NIU Ph.D. student publishes discoveries in top physics journal.
- Dr. Clyde Kimball Scholarship: A scholarship in Dr. Kimball’s name has been established to be awarded to NIU physics students to assist in their academic endeavors. Simply indicate "Clyde Kimball Scholarship" in the “Other” designation when donating. (link below)
- https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1579/Foundation/index.aspx?sid=1579&gid=3&pgid=401&cid=1052
- Moon Madness: Area residents observe total lunar eclipse.
- Dr. Mike Syphers will be joining us as a Research Professor at NIU physics department and the accelerator cluster of research excellence starting on September 16, 2015. This is a joint appointment with Fermilab. He is currently a full profesor of physics at Michigan State University. Dr. Syphers had been a long-time staff at Fermilab previously and had wanted to return to the NIU/Fermilab community for some time and this is an ideal opportunity for the cluster to have him on board. Dr. Syphers is the author of one textbook in particle accelerators, is an international expert large hadron particle colliders, had contributed originally to the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) and now contributing to the Future Circular Collider (FCC) design at CERN, He is a member of the Board of the US Particle Accelerator School and we expect him to boost the NIU accelerator physics both in educational aspects as well as broadening the research to include colliders.
- "High Energy" researches attract 1.77 million in new grants
- Reception for Undergraduate Women in Science, September 11, 2015, La Tourette Hall Rm 300, 1:00-2:00 pm
- NIU Alum Sam Watt takes STEM Outreach to Beijing
- Update news story on NIU's STEM program including its origins in physics.
- Graduate student Keith Taddei (Advisor Dr. Omar Chmaissem) won the Margaret Etter student lecturer award for the neutron scattering category at this year's ACA annual meeting in Philadelphia. The award was announced July 27th, 2015. Further details at NIU today.
- Watch Dr. Jahred Adelman's interview on Fox 32 Chicago News Friday, July 3, 2015.
- STEM Cafe talk on the Physics of Baseball
- It is with great sadness that I must announce the news of Clyde Kimball’s death last Wednesday in Corvallis, Oregon. Clyde was a fixture of the physics department and every day he worked towards fulfilling an ambition vision of what the department could be. We will miss him greatly and it is up to us to now keep his vision alive. (Laurence B. Lurio): Information about Clyde: Click here
- Fermilab director Nigel Lockyer to receive honorary NIU doctorate.
- Professor and Students Design New Lab Experiment and Produce Instructional Video (Dr. Shin, Gregory Alley and Ryan Churchill-Derose). Their video is available on the Optics Lab website.
- Research Compliance and Integrity will hold RCR Forum designed to support high quality research and promote graduate student professional development. Forum session will provide information for students about Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). April 8, 2015 La Tourette Hall 201 at noon - Research Misconduct, hosted by Shannon Wapole (ORCI): Panelist: Dr. Carol Thompson, Dean Brad Bond.
- Congratulations to Daniel Stange and Nilanjana Kumar who are recipients of the 2015 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award on April 21, 2015 at the Altgeld Hall Auditorium.
- Jamison Thorne's write up and reflection on the Industrial Physics Forum was just published in the latest edition of the national magazine for the Society of Physics Students, called the SPS Observer.
- Andrew Morrison (our own alumni) will be featured on STEM cafe on 2/24.
- "The Physics of Nuclear Propulsion" - Feb. 25, 2015, La Tourette Hall Rm 227, 1:00-1:50 PM - A special lecture for Physics undergraduate majors. The guest lecturer, Lt. Haggerty, is a Nuclear propulsion officer in the Navy, who will share real world experiences and examples about nuclear power, reactor principles and submarine operations.
- Michel van Veenedaal pens new book "Theory of Inelastic Scattering and Absorption of X-rays" (Cambridge University Press)
- Professor Swapan Chattopadhyay wrote a column on "The 2020 vision:the new face of accelerator science at Fermilab" in Fermilab Today (Jan 28, 2015 edition).
- APS/IBM Research Internships for Undergraduate Women and Underrepresented Minorities: Deadline is February 15
2014
- Fermilab Today article highlights NICADD scintillator facility.
- Professor Steve Martin presents "The Importance of Making Mistakes" as a Presidential Teaching Professor Seminar on October 21, 2014 at Capitol Room, Holmes Student Center.
- Physics undergraduates Jamison Thorne and Ashlyn Shellito attend 2014 Industrial Physics Forum conference in Brazil.
- Fermilab Today article highlights proton tomography scanner and George Coutrakon.
- Renowned physicist Swapan Chattopadhyay, currently director of the Cockcroft Institute in England, has accepted a joint appointment to Northern Illinois University and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Professor Swapan Chattopadhyay will be joining Department of Physics as a faculty this fall 2014. Please join us in wishing him a warm welcome to the department.
- Roland Winkler recognized as an "Outstanding Referees" out of 63,000 active referees of American Physical Society.
- Omar Chmaissem, S Avci, J.M. Allred made a new breakthrough in superconductivity research with his ANL collaborators led by Dr. Ray Osborn.
- Philippe Piot and Chris Prokop highlighted in ASTA newsletter
- David Hedin renewed as Board of Trustees Professor
- NIU-Fermilab accelerator physics collaborative effort highlighted in Fermilab Today and NIU Today
- Jerry Blazey, Steve Boi and Ashlyn Shellitto present at 2014 AAAS meeting
- Mike Fortner receives award for outstanding environmental leadership.
- Forbes magazine puts physics on the list of the 15 most valuable college majors.
2013
- Yasuo Ito interviewed in DeKalb Chronicle regarding STEMfest.
- David Hedin, Diego Menezes and Lei Feng's work on analyzing ZZ events at D0 is highlighted in Fermilab Today.
- Physics major Gabriela Arriaga featured in NIU Today
2012
- Steve Martin named a Fellow of the American Physical Society joining Bogdan Dabrowski, Gerald Blazey and Dave Hedin.
- Paper co-authored by Prof. Phillippe Piot chosen for journal's list of top articles. This work showed a new, practical way to make a particle beam's current distribution conform to any desired shape. NIU PhD recipient Marwan Rihaoui was also a co-author of the paper.
- Physics majors and Research Rookies Mason Hayward and Joshua Stevens have been named Simmon Scholars. Simmon Scholars are selected based on their academic performance and commitment to the Research Rookies program, in addition to majoring in STEM and/or health fields.
- Professor Andreas Glatz receives $4 million Department of Energy grant for superconductor research
- The New Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab has received "Mission Need" approval from the Department of Energy. NIU faculty members Mary Anne Cummings, Michael Fortner, and David Hedin of Physics and Nick Pohlman of Mechanical Engineering are collaborators on this project, which should measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon to unprecedented accuracy, probing the Standard Model and possible new physics extensions.
- The Higgs boson has been discovered! NIU physicists played important roles as part of the ATLAS detector collaboration team at the CERN Large Hadron Collider which made the definitive determination, and as part of the Dzero detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider which provided strong supporting evidence including the crucial fact that the Higgs boson decays to bottom quark-antiquark pairs. The Higgs boson is the first new fundamental particle discovered since the top quark, in 1995. See an NIU Today article, the Daily Chronicle article, the AP article,an NIU Today preview from just before the discovery announcement, and the Fermilab press release.
- Pati Sievert, NIU physics alumna, interviewed in the Midweek about science, physics, and outreach
- Prof. Suzanne Willis receives Eychaner Award
- Prof. David Hedin named APS Fellow. Citation: For his many important contributions to the D0 muon system design, construction, and operation, and his leadership in exploiting muons in a variety of physics studies at D0 both in Run I and Run II of the Tevatron.
- Research Rookie Garrett Wise profiled in the Northern Star
- NIU physicists co-author patent for Proton CT system that generates 3D images. Article in Symmetry Magazine!
- Prof. Blazey accepts 2-year post at White House Office of Science and Technology
2011
- 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Dr. Saul Perlmutter, Dr. Brian Schmidt, and Dr. Adam Riess, whose work indicates that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
- Prof. Fortner is profiled by the Chicago News Cooperative: The Illinois GOP's Favorite Physicist , and in the New York Times: It Can Take a Scientist to Help Understand Redistricting , and on WBEZ: Redistricting No Mystery to General Assembly Scientist , and in Ohio: New legislative district lines in Ohio can be drawn fairly .
- NIU Observatory featured in Daily Chronicle article
- Physics graduate students Suhr, Calkins, and Cole win prestigious fellowships and awards
- Prof. Ito demonstrates Japanese archery at Japanese Festival
- Sailesh Chittipeddi, NIU Physics MS graduate, named President and CEO of Conexant by Golden Gate Capital
- Professor Dhiman Chakraborty named Presidential Research Professor
- High school students and teachers learn about physics as part of QuarkNet
- Liz Holden (MS 2006) has published a short story in the 1/11 issue of the Midwest Literay magazine (p 104) in addition to the Fall 2010 issue of Tryst Literary Magazine and the Winter 2010 issue of The Blinking
- NIU grad Chris Chiaverina receives Distinguished Service Citation from the AAPT
- NIU Physics alumnus Sokrates Pantelides '69 named University Distinguished Professor of Physics and Engineering at Vanderbilt University
- Philippe Piot receives Homeland Security grant
- Physics students Matthew Davis and Matt Ellis take STEM third place prize in Undergraduate Research Days
- Fermilab experiments narrow allowed mass range for Higgs boson FNAL press release
- D0 dimuon charge asymmetry FNAL press release
- Dimuon charge asymmetry - paper, talks, media
