News

An international leader in quantum computing, architect of the U.S. National Quantum Initiative, and member of the National Academy of Sciences, Chris Monroe will join longtime long-distance collaborators at Duke to build practical quantum computers for use in fields from finance to pharmaceuticals Chris Monroe, one of the world’s leading experts in trapping atoms and manipulating their quantum state for applications in quantum information science, has joined the faculty at Duke University. With a dual appointment in the… read more about Chris Monroe: Realizing Ion-Trap Quantum Computers to Solve Unsolvable Problems »

ATLAS Postdoctoral Associate Katherine Pachal was excited to get the chance to discuss searches for the LHC Run 3 with Symmetry Magazine. The next five years will be a very interesting time to search for new particles which travel a measurable distance in the detector before decaying. Although well-motivated, these signatures are historically under-explored due to the experimental challenges they pose. The Duke ATLAS group has invested significant effort in developing this research area and… read more about Postdoc Pachal Discusses LHC Experiments with Symmetry Magazine »

read more about Research Offers Visible Proof That Masks Work »

Michael Troxel has always liked puzzles, especially challenging ones. Which is fortunate, since his job is solving some of the most perplexing, fundamental mysteries of the universe. “At some point in middle school I asked myself, What’s the hardest thing that I could try to do?” he said. “And at that point the hardest thing I knew about was astrophysics, so I think that was probably the first motivation for choosing this career, if I’m honest. But that was before I understood what it actually meant.” A cosmologist and… read more about Exploring the Mysteries of the Universe by Seeing the Invisible »

On June 10, 2020, over 70 members of the Duke Physics Department set aside their research, instructional, and administrative activities to participate in a nationwide strike called #ShutDownSTEM, organized by a multi-identity, intersectional coalition of STEM professionals. Participants used the day to reflect on the ways in which American physics communities, from small research groups, to undergraduate classes, university departments, multi-university collaborations, and national… read more about Duke Physics Community Anti-Racism Forum »

While the Duke Community celebrates this unprecedented graduating class of 2020, we would like to highlight two Duke Physics graduate and undergraduate team members for their successful development, coordination and commitment to our faculty, staff and students and first ever virtual graduating class. Katherine Siler and Timothy Fields, Jr. would have been planning their normal annual graduations with their respective graduate and undergraduate students, but instead during… read more about Department of Physics Staff Spotlight – June 2020 »

In 2020-2021, the Duke University Energy Initiative’s Energy Research Seed Fund will support projects addressing renewable energy’s integration into the grid, battery performance, electrochemical catalysts, utilities’ decision-making, the energy-water nexus, and energy’s connections with war and health. The Energy Research Seed Fund has a strong track record of investing in early-stage projects that go on to secure external support. The program will award six grants to projects involving thirteen… read more about Energy Research Seed Fund awards six grants to Duke faculty to kickstart innovative projects »

Fifteen Duke Ph.D. students have received prestigious awards from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) for 2020. Launched in 1952, the GRFP is the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind. It supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing Ph.D. or research-based master’s degrees. Fellows receive a three-year stipend, coverage of tuition and fees, and opportunities for international research and… read more about 15 Ph.D. Students Receive Prestigious NSF Fellowships »

Dr. Yang Zhang’s thesis work just appeared in a paper on "Precision measurement of the neutral pion lifetime" in Science on May 1, 2020. Dr. Yang Zhang received his Ph.D. from Duke in May 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Haiyan Gao. Strong force is one of the four fundamental forces in nature and is the force responsible for binding nucleons into atomic nuclei. The theory describing the strong force is called quantum chromodynamics (QCD) with quarks and gluons as degrees… read more about Alum Zhang Published in Science, a Significant Contribution to PrimEx-II »

Duke University has awarded distinguished professorships to 29 faculty members from eight Duke colleges and schools. While the annual University Distinguished Professors dinner will be postponed until social gathering restrictions are lifted, Provost Sally Kornbluth is ready to congratulate this year’s recipients now. “I am thrilled to honor this wonderful cohort of scholars, teachers, and members of the Duke community,” Kornbluth said. “Becoming a distinguished professor at Duke is a great achievement, and one that is… read more about Duke Awards 29 University Distinguished Professorships »

Keep Teaching is sharing stories of how Duke faculty are implementing remote learning. Here, Michael A. Troxel, Assistant Professor of Physics, details his experience. My approach was to try to keep the class experience as consistent as possible. I have a lot of experience working on Zoom meetings in my research collaborations, so it wasn’t much of a change for my daily work mode.  I got an iPad so I can easily share it as a virtual whiteboard on Zoom, so the students are watching me write out derivations and… read more about Recreating a Physics Classroom on Zoom »

Prof. Warren Warren, who holds appointments in Physics, Chemistry and Radiology, has been awarded the 2020 Günther Laukien Prize for his contributions to nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and its cousin, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI, which uses magnetic fields and radio waves to measure signals from spinning protons, has been used in medicine since the 1980s as a noninvasive way to create pictures of the inside of the body without using radiation like X-ray or CT scans do. One of… read more about Prof. Warren Wins Award for Magnetic Resonance »

Profs. Daniel Scolnic and Michael Troxel are science leaders for WFIRST, a next generation NASA flagship mission. WFIRST passed its agency-level review by the NASA Agency Program Management Council under what is called Key Decision Point C, which allows the mission to formally enter a development phase and begin construction of engineering and test components for the mission. The WFIRST telescope is expected to be launched in 2025 and will enable the most precise measurements of dark energy… read more about NASA Science Mission WFIRST, with Science Led by Prof. Scolnic and Troxel, Passes Key Milestone, Launch to be 2025  »

Prof. Kate Scholberg has been named an outstanding referee by the editors of the Physical Review journals. Scholberg is one of 147 Outstanding Referees for 2020 selected by the American Physical Society (APS) that have demonstrated exceptional work in the assessment of manuscripts published in the Physical Review journals. A full list of the Outstanding Referees is available online here. Instituted in 2008, the Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes… read more about Prof. Scholberg Announced as APS Outstanding Referee for 2020 »