General News

Physicists in the School of Physics and Astronomy are members of one of the two groups that recently reported the discovery of an intriguing new particle state named Zc(3900). This exceedingly short-lived particle has physicists excited because it presents an unexpected twist in the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the playbook for how the building blocks of matter fit together. More »

The Twin Cities business magazine, Finance and Commerce, named the NOvA Far Detector building in Ash River, Minnesota as one of the top building projects of 2012. There were more than 70 nominees and the laboratory was one of 26 honored, and one of only two out-state projects to make the list.

Professor Mikahil Shifman will receive the 2013 Pomeranchuk Prize, an international award for theoretical physicists given by the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow. Shifman was cited "for outstanding results in nonperturbative quantum field theory."

School of Physics and Astronomy Professor James Kakalios has written an op ed piece in The Hill, Congress Blog that takes the President and Congress to task for the sequester cuts and their stifling effect on scientific research. More »

A NOvA Experience for Students, by Deane Morrison is currently running on the University of Minnesota News website.

The 2013 Van Vleck Lecture "A Random Walk to Graphene" by Andre Geim can be now be viewed online. More »

The most powerful neutrino detector in the United States has recorded its first three-dimensional images of particles.Using the first completed section of the NOvA neutrino detector, scientists have begun collecting data from cosmic rays—particles produced by a constant rain of atomic nuclei falling on the Earth’s atmosphere from space. More »

School of Physics and Astronomy Graduate Student Ke-Jung Ken Chen has received the 2013 Gruber Foundation (TGF) Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship in the amouont of $50,000 is awarded to only one applicant per year. Chen will use the award to fund his post-doctoral research at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ken Chen is a student in astrophysics, studying supernovae with supercomputers, under the direction of Graduate Faculty member Alexander Heger. The Gruber Foundation is a part of the International Astronomical Union.

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) at the School of Physics and Astronomy was named an "Outstanding Chapter" by the national organization. Fewer than 10% of SPS chapters nationwide are given the honor. The group will receive a certificate for display and will be featured in the magazine, The SPS Observer. Among the accomplishments cited by the national organization were recruiting efforts, and outreach programs such as the The Mystery Science Room, the group puts on every year at the College of Science and Engineering's Family Fun Day. More »

The EBEX balloon flight was launched on December 29, 2012 from McMurdo Base in Antarctica. A video of the beautiful launch is available here. More »