School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota

12/01/2025

We're excited to welcome Oskar Vafek to the School of Physics and Astronomy's Fine Theoretical Physics Institute!

Oskar Vafek is a new professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy's Fine Theoretical Physics Institute. He comes to the University of Minnesota from Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he was director of the condensed matter theory group at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory....

11/17/2025

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. Learn more about this award below.

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.Janssen shares the prize with his colleague Anthony Duncan of the University of Pi...

11/11/2025

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, ong...

10/27/2025

Physics undergraduate student Megan Schoenzeit (B.S. '25) has been recognized by APS and NSF awards programs in one of the most competitive application cycles in the fellowship's history!

Megan Schoenzeit (B.S. Physics '25) was awarded both a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship in one of the most competitive application cycles in the fellowship's history and was one of three finalists for the American Physical Society (APS) LeRoy Apker Award, recognizing ou...

09/22/2025

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. Read on our website to learn more!

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. The new algorithm was officially deployed into the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaborati...

08/04/2025

Read more about this discovery below!

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 ...

07/21/2025

We had some visitors at Tate this morning!

06/23/2025

Tomorrow is the kickoff of our summer lecture series with speaker James Kakalios!

Visit the link below to learn more!
https://cse.umn.edu/physics/astounding-astrophysics

06/11/2025

Join the Physics and Astronomy department for an astounding series of FREE public lectures on amazing advances in astrophysics! Learn about colliding black holes, the first galaxies, solar flares and even Superman!

Bring the whole family to come and learn about the mysteries of the universe and what your local astrophysicists are doing to solve them every Tuesday from June 24th- July 29th at 7PM!

Follow the link below to learn more!

https://cse.umn.edu/physics/astounding-astrophysics?fbclid=IwY2xjawK2cctleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF0bGNtUm1NYk0yWjdSYnlDAR43985NHyhFccdIi9NEgAFt3VYJhUJYXrbp_PEFUY260y4SO-9uEQ2XPnT5bA_aem_0lWJc15QrQl_-DWrsJEOxA

05/14/2025

Assistant Professor Nadja Strobbe of the School of Physics and Astronomy has received the 2025 Guillermo E. Borja award!

Assistant Professor Nadja Strobbe of the School of Physics and Astronomy has received the 2025 Guillermo E. Borja award. This honor recognizes promising young faculty members of the College of Science and Engineering for their research and scholarly accomplishments during their probationary period a...

05/01/2025

Professors Elias Puchner and Vincent Noireaux, 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.

Learn more about what this means below!

Professors Elias Puchner and Vincent Noireaux, 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. Their article, "Red Light Mediated Photoconversion of Silicon Rhodamin...

04/16/2025

The National Society of Black Physicists has connected with amazing groups across campus, including ASTRO Club!

The groups had a fun collaboration on February 26th, where they did Astro Jeopardy!