Natalie Klco, assistant professor of Physics and a member of the Duke Quantum Center, has received the 2026 Kenneth G. Wilson Award “for her pioneering contributions to digital quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories.” Zohreh Davoudi (right) handing the 2026 Wilson Award to Natalie Klco. (Courtesy of the International Lattice Conference) Established with support from Physics Nobel Prize laureate Kenneth G. Wilson, whose computational approaches transformed theoretical physics… read more about Physicist Natalie Klco Honored with Kenneth G. Wilson Award for Excellence in Lattice Field Theory »
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences is increasing its support for early-stage interdisciplinary research efforts with new funding for four faculty-led research initiatives designed to foster collaboration across the social sciences, natural sciences and arts & humanities. The projects — spanning biodiversity, statistics, mental health, philosophy, cultural heritage and data science — came out of a competitive call for proposals launched last year. Two initiatives, Causality at Duke and BioTA: Biodiversity… read more about Trinity Funds Four New Faculty-Led Research Initiatives »
Assistant Professor of Physics and Duke Quantum Center member Marko Cetina has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award totaling $406,456 for his project, CAREER: ColleqtIon: Collective Ion Optical Interconnects for Quantum Computing.The award will support research aimed at using optical resonators to overcome key barriers to scaling ion-based quantum computing and simulation technologies. read more about Marko Cetina Receives NSF CAREER Award to Advance Ion-Based Quantum Computing »
As temperatures climb and daylight stretches late into the evening, summer brings a familiar set of experiences — buzzing mosquitoes, sun-soaked afternoons and, for many people, the urge to reset routines or chase new goals. But the season also carries serious risks. Extreme heat and wildfires can threaten lives, destroy homes and ecosystems, and send hazardous smoke across entire regions. Behind both the ordinary and unsettling aspects of summer are fascinating scientific explanations.We asked four Duke faculty experts to… read more about Hot Days, Cool Science: Duke Experts Break Down Summer’s Everyday Mysteries »
Two Trinity-led research teams have received Phase I Genesis Mission awards from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop artificial intelligence tools that could accelerate discoveries in nuclear physics and astrophysics, helping scientists better understand matter under extreme conditions and respond more quickly to rare cosmic events. The projects, led by Duke physicists Steffen Bass and Kate Scholberg, are among the inaugural awards made through the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, a national initiative to… read more about Trinity Teams Receive DOE Genesis Mission Awards to Advance AI for Scientific Discovery »
Last year, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument — DESI — made headlines around the world. Its enormous map of the Universe hinted that dark energy — the mysterious something causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate — might not actually be constant. Last month, another giant cosmology experiment released its final results. The Dark Energy Survey. DES. Its results are intriguing. But did they confirm the DESI measurement? We’ll, let’s see, but there’s also a much more interesting question — Why are completely… read more about PBS Video Explores Dark Energy Survey, Analysis Led By Duke Physicist Michael Troxel »
It's 1994, and a mathematical algorithm puts a spotlight on quantum computing for the first time.Defence departments, spy agencies and cybersecurity experts are on edge over the explosive Shor's algorithm.They spend decades and billions of dollars searching for a solution before something called "Q-day" arrives. read more about Duke Physicist Henry Everitt Featured in ABC Radio National's 'Science Friction' »
Duke physicist and cosmologist Eve Vavagiakis is doing work that is literally out of this world. “If we build these telescopes with these fancy pixels and deploy them at these really unique sites on Earth, we can peer back and start to unfold what was in the universe at these very early times. Where are we going? Some of the biggest questions we can ask,” Vavagiakis said.She’s part of an international team of scientists who built the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope. Her role was building the camera for the telescope… read more about Duke Cosmologist Builds Camera for Telescope to Research the Early Universe »
After years of planning, construction and testing, the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially begun the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a decade-long effort that will generate the most comprehensive time-lapse record of the universe ever assembled. Rubin's 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope and the world's largest digital camera will scan the visible southern sky, capturing everything from nearby asteroids to distant galaxies. By comparing images taken over 10 years, astronomers will be able to watch… read more about Rubin Observatory Begins Decade-Long Survey of the Dynamic Universe »
After a year of testing, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has started capturing data as part of the much-anticipated Legacy Survey of Space and Time. ... “I’m excited because we are finally beginning to start answering the questions that Rubin set out to provide answers to,” says Arun Kannawadi Jayaraman, a cosmologist at Duke University who works with data from the Rubin, to Hannah Richter at Sky & Telescope.“And I’m nervous because, although we have been dealing with the immense amount of data Rubin… read more about Duke Cosmologist Arun Kannawadi Jayaraman on The World’s Largest Digital Camera »
"I believe the European quantum sector can play a leading role," said Jungsang Kim. "Indeed, if we look back at the history of quantum physics, we see that it originated in Europe; the foundational work in the field during the last century was all carried out there." read more about Duke Physicist Jungsang Kim: European Quantum Field Can Play a Leading Role »
As quantum computers grow larger and more powerful, one of the biggest challenges is understanding and choreographing the complex patterns of quantum entanglement that make these technologies possible. Natalie Klco, assistant professor of Physics at Duke University and a member of the Duke Quantum Center, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to face that challenge by looking through the lens of an unconventional source: the quantum fields that physicists use to describe the fundamental… read more about Physics Faculty Natalie Klco Receives NSF Early Career Award »
A massive underground detector aimed at understanding the mysterious ghost particles in our universe released its first major results on Wednesday.The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory in China started collecting data in August with the goal of understanding neutrinos: tiny cosmic particles that date back to the Big Bang and whiz harmlessly through our bodies by the trillions every second.In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, the JUNO team unveiled its initial findings from two months of data… read more about Duke Physicist Kate Scholberg Says New Neutrino Findings Make Her Look Forward Exciting Results in The Future »
Look to your left: red dirt and rocks. Look to your right: red dirt and rocks. The sky? Painfully clear. The air? Hard to breathe. It’s in this otherworldly landscape where Duke physicist Eve Vavagiakis and over a hundred other attendees celebrated the inauguration of the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), marking a major milestone for an international collaboration and promising new insights into some of the biggest questions in cosmology. Located on Cerro… read more about New Chilean Telescope Opens a Window on the Early Universe »
Duke Physics Ph.D. alum Ryan Bouabid was awarded the Springer Thesis Prize. Bouabid’s award-winning thesis, “Tests of the Effective Weak Interaction with the World’s Smallest Neutrino Detector,” will be published in the book series “Springer Theses.” The series “Springer Theses” brings together a selection of the very best Ph.D. theses from around the world and across the physical sciences. The work reported in each thesis must represent a significant scientific advance. Bouabid defended his Ph.D. in 2025,… read more about Duke Ph.D. Alumnus Ryan Bouabid Awarded the Springer Thesis Prize »
Deven Gupta came to Duke because he didn’t have to compromise. A double major in Biophysics and Classical Civilization, Gupta arrived knowing he wanted a career in medicine without sacrificing the humanities — a perspective shaped by growing up in a home where math and science carried the same importance as the arts and humanities. Gupta joined the Biomedical Interferometry Optics and Spectroscopy lab as a first-year student. What surprised him most wasn’t the technical… read more about Deven Gupta '26: Duke Through a Wider Lens »
Jungsang Kim, the Schiciano Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of Physics at Duke University, has received the Changjo Medal of the Order of Science and Technology Merit, the highest class of South Korea’s premier national honor for scientists and engineers.Kim is one of two recipients selected this year for the award, which recognizes contributions to science and technology with national and global impact. The Changjo Medal, whose name translates to “creation,” is the top of… read more about Physics Professor Jungsang Kim Receives South Korea’s Top Science and Technology Honor »
Dan Scolnic, associate professor of Physics, has been named a recipient of the 2026 New Horizons in Physics Prize, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. He shares the prize with five collaborators — Dillon Brout, J. Colin Hill, Mathew Madhavacheril, Maria Vincenzi, and W. L. Kimmy Wu — for their advances in cosmic microwave background and supernova cosmology. The New Horizons in Physics Prize is awarded annually by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation — the organization behind the $3 million Breakthrough Prizes,… read more about Dan Scolnic Receives Breakthrough New Horizons in Physics Prize »
Eighteen current students in The Graduate School, including eight students in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, have received awards from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) for 2026. Since 1952, the NSF GRFP has supported more than 70,000 outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Fellows receive a three-year stipend, coverage of tuition and fees, and access to professional development opportunities.The… read more about Eight Trinity Students Receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships »
Yasa Baig, ’22, has been awarded a PD Soros Fellowship in support of a Ph.D. in bioengineering at Stanford, joining 20 other Duke recipients of the award. Born in India and raised in Massachusetts, Baig earned a B.S. in physics and computer science at Duke where he was a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship and was an A.B. Duke Scholar. As a Marshall Scholar, Baig went on to complete a master’s degree in physics and another in mathematics at the University of Cambridge. At Stanford, Baig… read more about Trinity Alumnus Yasa Baig Wins Soros Fellowship for Graduate Study »
An international team of researchers with the Dark Energy Survey (DES) has released one of the most precise new measurements yet of how the universe expands over time. The results, based on hundreds of millions of galaxies, help scientists test the leading model of cosmology and probe the mysterious force known as dark energy that appears to be driving cosmic acceleration.Among the scientists shaping this latest analysis are Duke researchers, led by Associate Professor of Physics Michael Troxel, whose group has… read more about Duke Scientists Help Sharpen the Picture of a Changing Universe »
Michael Troxel, associate professor of Physics and co-director of the SPACE Initiative at Duke, was recently awarded the NASA Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for his leadership in coordinating and delivering the OpenUniverse 2024 Roman/Rubin image simulations campaign. OpenUniverse simulation of what NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could see when it launches by May 2027. (Photo courtesy of C. Hirata, K. Cao and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) The… read more about Michael Troxel Awarded NASA’s Exceptional Public Achievement Medal »
Dr. Jenna Moore describes her work as “basically building really advanced Legos.” To say that description is an understatement would be an understatement in itself. Since 2018, Moore has built cryogenic instrumentation for the world’s most advanced and remote observatories, scanning the first light in the universe — the Cosmic Microwave Background — from high in the Andean mountaintops. But Moore’s path to the stars has been far from conventional. As a child growing up in the rural outskirts of Charlotte, she displayed… read more about How Jenna Moore Is Hunting the Cosmos in the World’s Driest Desert »
Quietly tucked behind Physics on West Campus, an unassuming concrete building conceals one of Duke’s best-kept secrets. The brutalist austerity and lack of signage reveal little, yet beneath its asphalt parking lot sprawls a subterranean warren of thick-walled rooms that have borne witness to sixty years of nuclear physics research.This hidden network is the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, TUNL for short, the brainchild of experimental nuclear physicist Henry W. Newson. Joining the Department of Physics in… read more about Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory is Self-Sustaining at Sixty »
Quietly tucked behind Physics on West Campus, an unassuming concrete building conceals one of Duke’s best-kept secrets. The brutalist austerity and lack of signage reveal little, yet beneath its asphalt parking lot sprawls a subterranean warren of thick-walled rooms that have borne witness to 60 years of nuclear physics research. While the landscape around TUNL has changed over 60 years, the work inside remains constant. (left: Duke University Archives; right: Margo Lakin/Trinity… read more about Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory is Self-Sustaining at Sixty »
An interdisciplinary team of Duke faculty is among the international recipients of a new grant from the Schmidt Sciences Humanities and Artificial Intelligence Virtual Institute (HAVI), a program designed to bridge the gap between AI technology and humanistic inquiry. Led by Martin Fischer, Research Professor of Chemistry and Physics; Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics from Bar-Ilan University (formerly of Duke); and John K. Delaney, from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the project… read more about Duke Researchers Awarded Grant to Reveal Hidden Histories of Artworks Through AI and Imaging »
Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has invited its faculty to submit proposals for the creation of new research initiatives on campus.Following the successful launches of the SPACE Initiative and the Society-Centered AI Initiative, the Trinity Research Initiative will support new directions for interdisciplinary research through seed funding for nascent research collaborations, community-building, and complementary educational and outreach activities.Open to all areas of research and… read more about Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Invites Proposals for New Research Initiatives »
Every year, the research intelligence company Clarivate publishes a list of Highly Cited Researchers. These researchers have multiple publications which rank in the top 1% by citation in their fields and are further selected for exemplifying excellence and integrity in their work.The Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list was recently released, and 29 Duke scholars were featured on the list of 6,868 researchers. These leading researchers hail from across Duke University, Duke Health and Duke-NUS Medical School… read more about Trinity Scholars Featured in the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 List »
JUNO seeks to answer a fundamental question about the elusive particles. So do two competing experiments coming on line in the next decade.The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) achieved a major milestone in August, after 10 years of construction, when it began collecting data. More than 700 scientists from 17 countries are contributing to the facility, which is the largest liquid-scintillator detector in the world. Its primary goal is to determine the ordering of the neutrino masses. read more about Kate Scholberg on the Next-Generation Underground Neutrino Detector in China Up and Running »
Calvin R. Howell, Professor of Physics, was awarded the 2025 Francis Slack Award at this year’s Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society (SESAPS) Annual Meeting. The award, presented by the American Physical Society (APS), honors "Excellence in Service to Physics in the Southeast.”Professor Howell’s research is in the area of experimental nuclear physics with emphasis on the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) description of low-energy nuclear phenomena, including structure properties of nucleons and… read more about Calvin Howell Receives 2025 Francis Slack Award from the American Physical Society »