News

Karle, Lu lead team awarded Research Forward funding

This post is modified from the original The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) hosts the Research Forward initiative to stimulate and support highly innovative and groundbreaking research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. …

Bill Foster earns University Staff Recognition Award

This story is modified from the original Ten University Staff members — including physics instrument maker Bill Foster — have been honored with 2025 University Staff Recognition Awards for their contributions to the University of …

UW–Madison physicists play key role in international observatory

Bergmann Group achieves shortest hard X-ray pulses to date

Once only a part of science fiction, lasers are now everyday objects used in research, healthcare and even just for fun. Previously available only in low-energy light, lasers are now available in wavelengths from microwaves …

Congrats to Prof. Rzchowski on his retirement!

Congrats to Prof. Mark Rzchowski who has announced his retirement, effective January 17! Rzchowski is a condensed matter experimentalist who joined the department as an assistant professor in 1992 and has been a full professor …

Nathan Wagner named 2025 Astronaut Scholarship Foundation scholar

This post is adapted from an announcement originally made by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation recently announced its 2025 class of Astronaut Scholars, including University of Wisconsin–Madison physics and math major Nathan …

Summer filled with physics conferences and workshops

Summer at UW–Madison is filled with trips to the Terrace, amazing weather, and usually a break from classes. Physicists in Madison this summer can add one more thing to the list this summer: over a …

Matt Otten earns Air Force Young Investigator Research Program award

Matt Otten has won an Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) award, offered through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The program intends to support early-career scientists and engineers who show exceptional ability …

Gage Erwin named DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellow

This post is adapted from the DOE’s announcement regarding the Computational Science Fellows Congrats to physics PhD student Gage Erwin on being named a U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow! The 2025-2026 incoming …

Alum and former BoV member Greg Piefer earns entrepreneur award

Search for boosted Higgs advances our understanding of dark matter

This story, featuring physics graduate student Shivani Lomte, was originally published by the CMS collaboration The CMS Collaboration hunts for Higgs bosons recoiling against dark matter particles Dark matter is one of the most perplexing mysteries …

Dark matter and pencil jets: The search for a low-mass Z’ boson using machine learning

This story, featuring physics grad student Abhishikth Mallampalli, was originally published by the CMS collaboration The CMS experiment conducts the first search for dark matter particles produced in association with an energetic narrow jet—the pencil …

UW–Madison scientists part of team awarded Breakthrough Prize in Physics

A team of 13,508 scientists, including over 100 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced April 5. The Prize recognized work conducted at CERN’s …

Three grad students recognized as L&S Teaching Mentors

Physics PhD students Sam Kramer, Michelle Marrero Garcia, and Isaac Barnhill were recently named to the L&S Teaching Mentors program. The L&S Teaching Mentors are the heart of L&S’s Teaching Assistant (TA) Trainings. They are exceptionally …

Matt Otten part of project to develop novel quantum sensor

This post is adapted from one originally published by Fermilab Fermilab is finalizing a partnership with Diraq and several universities — including the University of Wisconsin–Madison — for the Quandarum project. The project team intends …

NOvA study sets tighter limit on sterile neutrinos

Neutrinos have always been difficult to study because their small mass and neutral charge make them especially elusive. Scientists have made a lot of headway in the field and can now detect three flavors, or …

Highlights from APS DPP

Physics Faculty Attend Major Plasma Physics Conference in Atlanta By Christopher Woolford, Physics PhD student Over 200 faculty and students represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison at the annual American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics …

Probing the connection between the highest-energy astrophysical neutrinos and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

Welcome, Prof. Jakob Moritz!

String theorist Jakob Moritz joined the faculty as an assistant professor of physics on January 1, 2025. He joins us from CERN where he has been a postdoc for just over a year. Previously, he …

Baha Balantekin honored at neutrino astrophysics workshop

The illustrious career of Baha Balantekin, the Eugene P. Wigner professor of physics at UW–Madison, was celebrated recently at the Neutrinos in Physics and Astrophysics Workshop through the Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries …