News

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 …

Dan McCammon awarded Distinguished Career Prize

Congrats to Prof. Dan McCammon for earning the Distinguished Career Award from The American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) for his pioneering work on the development of microcalorimeters that has led to …

UW physicists use Purdue supercomputer to challenge traditional turbulence theory for space and climate modeling

Qolab, the first UW–Madison-incubated quantum startup, joins the Chicago Quantum Exchange

Physics major Caleb Youngwerth wins poster prize at APS Eastern Great Lakes meeting

Congrats to physics, astronomy-physics, mathematics and french major Caleb Youngwerth on winning the Meeting Award for Undergraduate Student Poster at the Fall 2024 meeting of the Eastern Great Lakes Section of APS! Youngwerth’s poster, entitled, …

Physics awarded need-based graduate fellowships by U.S. Department of Education

This fall, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the UW–Madison department of physics with Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships. These fellowships will assist graduate students with strong academic records who demonstrate …

Physics participates in U.S. Cyber Command visit to campus

Welcome, Prof. Melinda Soares-Furtado!

Melinda Soares-Furtado, an observational astronomer, joined the UW–Madison faculty this fall on a joint appointment in the astronomy and physics departments. She earned her undergrad degree at UC-Santa Cruz, then her doctorate in astrophysical sciences …