Department News Archive
This page is an archive of department news headlines. For university-published news articles about our department, please check the Physics and Astronomy in the News archive.
Retirement of Frank Chin, Director of Laboratories
Frank Chin, P&A Director of Laboratories will retire on Oct. 31 after serving the department well with dedication for 30 years.
Frank joined the department in July 1994 as a staff in the Instructional Labs and became the Director of Laboratories in 2011.
We thank Frank for his service to the department and wish him well in his retirement!
In Memoriam, Fred Goldhaber
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Prof. Fred Goldhaber, a dedicated physicist, a long time colleague and friend, and beloved professor at Stony Brook University, who passed away on Tuesday, September 25, 2024.
A full obituary can be found here.
A deeper look at Fred's physics research is forthcoming.
2024 Chair's Colloquium
As is our tradition, our first colloquium every Fall semester is given by our Department Chair, Distinguished Professor Chang Kee Jung. At this year's event on August 27, the Chair shared department news and accomplishments from the past year, along with an overview of the research done by members of the department.
Pictured above is the Department Chair with students in the Simons STEM Scholars Program.
You can find the slides from the Chair's Colloquium here.
Information about future colloquiums can be found on the Colloquium Page.
Bent Nielsen retires after 23 years of service
Bent came to Stony Brook in January 2001 joining Emilio Mendez's group. Bent served various research groups before becoming the Manager of the Instructional Lab in 2014 serving the department very well for the next 10 years. Bent was a member of the Neutrino and Nucleon decay (NN) group that received 2016 Breakthrough Prize for their contributions to the Super-Kamiokande, K2K and T2K experiments. Bent specifically contributed to the construction of the P0D detector for the T2K experiment.
After his retirement, Bent will continue his involvement in the department through his visiting scholar appointment. His broad experience and expertise with the Instructional Lab will be highly valuable for the department.
Congratulations to Bent for his well deserved retirement and we wish him the very best.
You can find more photos from Bent's retirement celebration here.
URECA Researcher of the Month: Alo Chakravarty
Congratulations to Alo Chakravarty for being named Researcher of the Month for August 2024!
Alo Chakravarty is a physics major in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) honors program. In her sophomore year (2023-2024), she began experimental high-energy/particle physics research under the mentorship of Dr. John Hobbs (Department of Physics & Astronomy), earning credit through PHY287: Introduction to Research. This summer, Alo had the opportunity to continue her work and engage in full-time research through the Frances Velay Science Fellowship program funded by the Panaphil Foundation (Dr. Maria Nagan, CAS, Chemistry). In addition, she was one of two Velay Fellows to be awarded the inaugural Physics & Astronomy Barish-URECA award, which provides additional support to undergraduate summer researchers.
Her project focuses on the analysis of an exotic Higgs decay pp → H → Za →bbμμ through data recorded with the ATLAS detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC); and required learning to use ROOT, CERN’s data analysis framework used for high energy physics. She uses Python, C++ and ROOT in her research to analyze data using machine learning techniques. Alo will have the opportunity to present her first research poster, “Investigating the Exotic Higgs Boson Decay pp → H → Za → bbμμ with the Large Hadron Collider” at the Summer Symposium on August 2, along with ~100 other undergraduates involved in summer research programs. At Stony Brook, Alo enjoys being a tutor in the Academic Success and Tutoring Center; she is also a member of the Society of Physics Students (SPS).You can find more of the interview here.
Jan Bernauer Receives Outstanding Faculty Award
Nominated by graduate and senior undergraduate physics students, Dr. Bernauer has been selected by his students to receive this department honor!
Congratulations to our 2024 Graduate School Award Winners!
The department is delighted to share the news that two of our graduate students have won awards in the annual competition for Graduate School Awards.
Yichul Choi working with Shu-Heng Shao and Zohar Komargodski is one of the winner's of the President's Award to Distinguished Doctoral Students for his work on Generalized Symmetries in Quantum Field Theory and Particle Physics.
Waltraut Knop working with Leonardo Rastelli is the winner of the John Marburger III Fellowship for Science, Engineering and Mathematics for her work exploring theories of Quantum Gravity. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Waltraut for her enormous and ongoing service contributions to the department!
Both of these awards will be presented at the Graduate Awards Ceremony on May 13.
Please join us in congratulating both of these outstanding students!
Catherine Feldman Wins First Place in 2024 3MT Competition!
Catherine Feldman, advised by Dr. Alan Calder, won first place in the 2024 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition!
Catherine Feldman (second from left) along with the other competition winners.
The need for effective science communication is stronger than ever, especially when conveying complex ideas to audiences of varied backgrounds. The 3MT competition is designed to test one's skill at just that, and is held in over 200 universities around the world. On March 8, 2024, Stony Brook University held its own competition, and our department is proud to have a student claim first place!
Feldman, through her presentation "FLASH Photography: Exploding Stars on Computers," sought to describe how simulating reactions that occur in stars has important implications on real-world challenges.
“I loved the practice sessions and really looked forward to sharing each new draft because I knew that it would be even better afterwards. For me, 3MT turned into a larger challenge of explaining why basic science research is so important.”
- Catherine Feldman
Feldman joins a list of 3MT laureates from our department, including Derek Pope (advised by Angela Kelly) in 2022, Sonali Gera (advised by Eden Figueroa) in 2020, and Zoya Vallari (advised by Chang Kee Jung) in 2017.
Feldman will continue to the regional 3MT competition at the University of New Hampshire on April 26 as our university's representative. She will defend her thesis in May before beginning her post-doctoral work at MIT.
Congratulations Catherine on this significant achievement!
Read more about the event here.
In Memoriam, Robert (Bob) Segnini
With deep sorrow, we announce that Bob Segnini, who served the department exceptionally as the Director of Laboratories for many years, passed away last Tuesday, January 9, 2024.
Robert's life was a testament to hard work and perseverance. His career in robotics was distinguished by groundbreaking achievements, including the development of the first robotic vision sensors used in the Trident nuclear submarine for the US Navy. His innovative spirit led to numerous patents and a position on the Board of Directors. Later in his career, he served as the Laboratory Director of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, where his leadership and expertise continues to positively impact those he worked with.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Robert was known for his resilience and kind hearted traits, that endeared him to all those who knew him. His toughness was matched by his compassion, making him a respected and beloved figure in both his personal and professional circles.
Bob was a consummate professional with a kind heart and dedication to serve the department. He was willing to do anything to help faculty research, helping many with various aspect of experiment design. He cared about everything he did, was respected by the people who worked with him and was loved by all. We will miss him greatly.
Stony Brook Physics Students Win National Recognition for Second Consecutive Year
Following their yearly review, the National Council of Society of Physics Students (SPS) has awarded the Stony Brook University SPS Chapter as a 2022-23 Outstanding Chapter, continuing the streak started with last year's recognition for their same outstanding efforts!
The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association designed for students and membership is open to anyone interested in physics and related fields. SPS operates within the American Institute of Physics (AIP), an umbrella organization for professional physical science societies.
This is a great and well deserved recognition, given to less than 15% of SPS chapters each year, and Stony Brook's chapter has received it for two years in a row!
Congratulations once again to the SPS members! We are very proud of everything they continue to accomplish!
To learn more about our university's SPS chapter, visit their link here.
In Memoriam, Thomas Kuo
Thomas (Tom) Kuo, a long-time physicist and resident from East Setauket who has spent decades as a faculty member at Stony Brook University, passed away on September 10th. He was 91.
Kuo arrived at Stony Brook in 1968 and retired in 2013, but remained active in conducting research until last year. He will be missed by many of his colleagues and students here at Stony Brook, and in many parts of the world. Kuo's work was primarily in nuclear structure, the intricate aspects of nuclear matter, few nucleon systems, and lately on strongly coupled Fermi systems at the unitarity point. His work on the so-called Kuo-Brown interaction has impacted the work of a generation of nuclear physicists. His graduate students went on to leading positions, most notably director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and faculty positions around the world.
He was a beloved teacher, with a number of teaching awards from Stony Brook University and he was a co-editor for World Scientific. Originally from Taiwan, Kuo graduated from University of Pittsburgh in 1964, and carried his first postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, before joining Stony Brook. He is survived by his wife Anette, son Philip of Setauket and daughter Elaine of Ithaca.
A memorial is scheduled at 10AM on Saturday September 16, 2023 at the Moloney Funeral Home, 132 Ronkonkoma Ave., Lake Ronkonkoma, NY 11779.
In Memoriam, Amos Yahil
Emeritus Professor Amos Yahil, who retired in 2008, sadly passed away on August 25, 2023 after a short battle with AML. He was an early member of the Astronomy Group in the Earth and Space Sciences Department, joining the faculty in 1978 prior to becoming a professor in Physics & Astronomy.
He was born in Israel; his mother was an eminent Holocaust historian and his father was an Israeli diplomat who had many important assignments including the Israeli ambassador to Sweden. He received his doctorate in 1970 from Caltech in elementary particle physics and began studying cosmology as a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. His 1974 report on the existence of an extensive quantity of intergalactic “dark matter” (published together with Ostriker and Peebles) is honored by the American Astronomical Society as one of the most important scientific publications of the 20th century.
At Stony Brook, he led efforts to enhance computational resources in the Department and developed important algorithms for reducing noise, enhancing images and detecting high-redshift galaxies, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1984. In 1995, together with Stony Brook Prof. Kenneth Lanzetta and Alberto Fernández-Soto, Yahil discovered the two furthest galaxies known at the time.
In addition to over 100 publications with more than 10,000 citations in cosmology and nuclear astrophysics, Yahil has several patents in image processing that, as CEO of ImageRecon LLC and PIXON LLC, were used to develop medical imaging software that Siemens currently uses in the treatment of some 10 million patients worldwide.
Dr. Pérez Ríos Publishes First Book
Congratulations to Assistant Prof. Jesús Pérez Ríos for publishing his first book, An Introduction to Cold and Ultracold Chemistry!
This book introduces cold and ultracold chemistry: the study of scattering processes and chemical reactions at temperatures below 1K, dedicated to master and graduate students interested in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and chemical physics.
The book covers all relevant systems: atoms, ions, molecules, and Rydbergs, presenting a comprehensive introduction to quantum scattering theory and quasi-classical trajectory calculations, including atoms, molecules, and ions.
Direct three-body recombination is introduced following a classical trajectory approach in hyperspherical coordinates with applications in cold chemistry scenarios. Finally, ultralong-range Rydberg molecules are presented alongside their decay mechanisms.
Congratulations to Dr. Pérez Ríos on this accomplishment! For more details about his research, please see his faculty profile here.
Radu Ionas Receives Outstanding Faculty Award
The award recipient was determined by vote from the department's graduating class.
Congratulations, Professor Ionas!
YITP Wins the Second P&A Department Chair's Cup Soccer Tournament
The 2nd P&A Chair's Cup Soccer Tournament concluded successfully on Thursday, May 18. The Championship game was played between the AMO and YITP teams, with YITP winning the Championship by 3-1 in a heated competition and claiming victory against the reigning champions from last year.
Both teams played exceptionally well, and the game was exciting to watch -- even the Provost was present for the competition! In the 3rd and 4th game, Nuclear beat the 1st & 2nd Years Team by 5-4 in a high scoring and a highly entertaining game!
Department Graduate Honored as a Local PhysTEC Teacher of the Year
Robert Krakehl, a graduate of Stony Brook's MAT Physics Program and I-STEM's Ph.D. program under the advisement of Dr. Angela Kelly, has been honored as a Local PhysTEC Teacher of the Year!
This award recognizes Dr. Krakehl for his exemplary teaching, which he can be seen doing in the photo above where he was teaching a physics camp!
"Robert’s contributions to physics education are significant and impactful on the local students, colleagues, school district, and state at a time when the nation is in desperate need of qualified physics teachers."
- Michael Wittmann,
PhysTEC Project DirectorCongratulations to Robert!
Prof. Rouven Essig Featured on the DOE Office of Science Webpage
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has published a highlight of the works of Prof. Essig's career since receiving the 2012 Early Career Award.
Prof. Essig originally received the Early Career Award for his work in particle physics at various frontiers -- from searching for candidate dark matter particles to studying data from the Large Hadron Collider.
When asked what the 2012 Early Career Award allowed him to achieve, among various scientific advances he says:
"Most importantly, the DOE Early Career Award allowed me to train several graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher in particle physics. It enabled me to establish a strong research program and research group early on in my career, providing a strong foundation from which I continue to benefit."
You may read more about Dr. Essig's work and the short interview here.
Congratulations to Dr. Essig on his progress over the past decade!
2023 Godfrey Excellence in Teaching Award Given to Jesus Perez-Rios
The Godfrey Awards for Excellence in Teaching were created so students can recognize faculty who go above and beyond in their classrooms and show strong dedication to the mentorship of their students.
The award page further notes that winning recipients need to "demonstrate a warm spirit, a concern for society and the individual, and the ability to impart knowledge while challenging students to independent inquiry and creative thought," as well as "show a respect for and understanding of the permanent values of our university culture."
Congratulations to Dr. Perez-Rios on this honor!
2023 CAS Staff Excellence Award Given to Victoria Grove
Each year, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) recognizes a number of individuals with their "The Difference You Make" award series. Individual staff members can be recognized for their demonstrated excellence and support they provide their department!
This year, Victoria Grove, the grants manager for our department, was one of only three staff members selected for this honor!
The department thanks Vicki for her continued dedication and support, and congratulates her on this award!
SPS Organizes Inaugural Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Research Day
Stony Brook's chapter of the Society of Physics Students has organized an Undergraduate Research Day for the department on Friday, March 31!
Five faculty judges will attend the poster presentations to give feedback to the presenters, as well as to select four students to give a short talk on their research during one of the weekly department colloquiums!
Undergraduate students with physics or astronomy research to share are encouraged to register! Those interested in presenting may register using the QR code on the event flyer, or by using this Google form (Stony Brook e-mail required).
Congratulations to the SPS for organizing such a great opportunity!
Time Projection Chamber Installed in sPHENIX
A state-of-art Time Projection Chamber (TPC) that will be the central tracking system for the sPHENIX detector that was built at Stony Brook under the leadership of Prof. Tom Hemmick has been installed today!
It involved many members of the experimental nuclear physics group and the machine shop. On Thursday January 19, the TPC was successfully installed in sPHENIX.
Congratulations to all involved!
The Chair, and the department as a whole, are incredibly proud that such a critical component was built right here at Stony Brook!
To see more photos of the occasion, please see here. Brookhaven National Laboratory's news team also wrote about this significant event, which you can read here.
Stony Brook Physics Students Win National Recognition
The National Council of Society of Physics Students (SPS) has reviewed all chapter reports and has awarded the Stony Brook University SPS Chapter as a 2021-22 Outstanding Chapter.
The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association designed for students and membership is open to anyone interested in physics and related fields. SPS operates within the American Institute of Physics (AIP), an umbrella organization for professional physical science societies.
A group of SPS students visiting a laboratory during a field trip.This is a great and well deserved recognition, given to less than 15% of SPS chapters each year.
Congratulations to the SPS leadership! We are very proud of our Stony Brook SPS Chapter.
To learn more about our university's SPS chapter, visit their link here.
Allen Pierre-Louis Wins the First Prize for Nuclear and Particle Physics Oral Presentations at 2022 NSBP Conference
At the 2022 National Society of Black Physicist (NSBP) Conference, Allen Pierre-Louis, a Master's student, won the first prize for nuclear and particle physics oral presentations with his talk "High Q2 electron-proton elastic scattering at the future Electron-Ion Collider." Allen is also the president of the SBU Chapter of the NSBP and is one of the student council members for NSBP nationally. The SBU Chapter was officially approved this fall as an official university club with about 12 members!
Allen Pierre-Louis (third from left) receiving his prize.After attending Stony Brook for undergrad, Allen interned at BNL under Dr. Deshpande with whom he did research during undergrad. He eventually became a GEM fellow at BNL and published a paper with Dr. Deshpande and Barak Schmookler on the future electron ion collider. Dr. Mickey Chiu, Dr. Abram Ledbetter, and Noel Blackburn were instrumental in helping him while at BNL.
Allen was joined by Leonardo Pierre (SBU P&A undergrad) and Prof. Chang Kee Jung (the department chair) at the conference in Charlottesville, Virginia, representing Stony Brook.
Congratulations to Allen!
See more photos of the event here.
New Master's Program in Quantum Information Science and Technology
The Physics and Astronomy Department is pleased to announce the creation of a new M.S. program in Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST)!
Professors Matt Dawber and Tzu-Chieh Wei successfully championed this proposal to the New York State Education Department, who recently gave approval!
The program will commence in the Fall semester of 2023, and will feature several new customized courses in QIST as well as a research component.
Congratulations to Dr. Dawber and Dr. Wei for this outstanding contribution to our department!
Department Send-Off for Retiring Machine Shop Member
The department gathered to say its farewells and well-wishes to Jeff Slechta, who retired today after 40+ years working in the department machine shop.
Department Chair, Professor Jung (left). Jeff Slechta (right).The department reflected upon several of Jeff's invaluable and creative contributions to the research projects by the faculty that led to major discoveries and scientific advances.
We congratulate Jeff for his retirement, and wish him well in the future!
Faculty Receive NSF Major Research Instrumentation Grant
The groups of Professor Tom Allison and Professor Mengkun Liu have been awarded a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation, totalling almost $1 million over 5 years!
The grant, titled "Development of Ultra-Broadband High-Power Frequency Comb Light Source for Advanced Spectroscopy and Imaging," will allow the teams to develop a new frequency comb light source at Stony Brook, with output spanning a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum (from the terahertz region all the way to the soft x-ray region).
Explore Professor Allison's research here, and Professor Liu's research here! The grant announcement may be viewed here.
Niveditha Ramasubramanian Selected as One of the Winners of the 2022 RHIC & AGS Thesis Award Competition
Niv Ramasubramanian, who was advised by Tom Hemmick and Gabor David, and just graduated in May, has been selected as one of the winners of the 2022 RHIC & AGS Thesis Award Competition for her thesis, titled, "Validation of the Glauber model for centrality determination in small system collisions”.
The award presentation was made during the Virtual RHIC & AGS Annual Users’ Meeting on Thursday June 9th.
Congratulations to Niv!
AMO Wins the First P&A Department Chair's Cup Soccer Tournament!
The inaugural P&A Chair's Cup Soccer Tournament concluded successfully on Wednesday, June 1. The Championship game was played between the AMO and Condensed Matter teams, and AMO won the Championship in a dramatic fashion by 2-0. Both teams played exceptionally well, and the game was exciting and entertaining to watch. (The Provost's Office came to watch the game.) In the 3rd and 4th game, YITP beat Nuclear by 2-1, even though the Nuclear team went all out NUCLEAR!
Overall, all the elements of a successful tournament were present, including dramas and controversies! The organizing committee did an excellent job. Even the Soccer Tournament BBQ Social hosted by the losers (HEP) was successful - over 100 people attended! Congratulations to the winners and everyone who participated!
Michael Zingale Receives Outstanding Faculty Award
Professor Zingale received the Outstanding Faculty Award for 2022.
The award recipient was determined by vote from the department's graduating class.
Congratulations, Professor Zingale!
Jin Koda Receives Two 2022 CAS Teaching Awards
The Physics and Astronomy Department congratulates Jin Koda for being a 2022 recipient of the following awards from the College of Arts and Sciences:
Godfrey Excellence in Teaching AwardJohn S. Toll Endowed Award for Teaching Excellence
Professor Koda was selected by the Dean's Student Advisory Council to receive these awards based on his exceptional teaching and passion for his field of study, as well as for the mentorship of his students.Congratulations, Professor Koda!
Derek Pope Wins 1st Place in 2022 3MT Competition
Derek Pope, a Science Education Ph.D. student, has won 1st place in the Three Minute Thesis competition with his talk titled "Imagine Actually Understanding Math? Student teachers' beliefs about how math should be taught."
Derek will now go on to represent Stony Brook in the Northeastern regional 3MT competition hosted by the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools on April 28th.
The final round of the 2022 competition may be viewed above, or at SBU's 3MT page.
Inaugural Chair's Cup Soccer Tournament
The Inaugural Department of Physics & Astronomy Chair's Cup Soccer Tournament starts this month!
This tournament is established to encourage cross socialization among the research groups as well as vertical socialization among students, postdocs, staff and faculty in the department.
On the first day, the Chair will kick-off the tournament at 4:45PM and unveil the trophy that will be presented to the first place winners. A recording will be posted on the tournament's Facebook page.
We look forward to a wonderful soccer tournament season!
Yiyang Jia Receives President's Award to Distinguished Doctoral Students
Only five awards each year are granted to outstanding graduates.
Chang Kee Jung Receives Lilienfeld Prize
The Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to physics and exceptional skills in lecturing to diverse audiences.
Documentary video of 2022 APS Prizes, featuring Prof. Jung
New Faculty
We welcome two new assistant professors, Vivian Miranda and Jesus Perez Rios, this semester. Vivian's research area is theoretical cosmology and Jesus' research area is theoretical AMO. Welcome to Stony Brook Vivian and Jesus!
Vivian Miranda
Jesus Perez Rios
C.N. Yang's 100th Birthday
The department held a small celebration on September 7th to mark the 100th Birthday and towering achievements of C.N. Yang.
Video of celebration
sPHENIX construction
The machine shop crew has successfully completed construction of the iHCAL sled for the sPHENIX Detector at BNL. A major accomplishment!
Change of UPD
This Spring semester we welcome Dominik Schneble as new Undergraduate Program Director replacing Bob McCarthy who has excellently served in that position for many years (two different times). We deeply appreciate his service. Bob will, however, continue overseeing the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program. Thank you Prof. McCarthy!
Bob McCarthy
Dominik Schneble
Changing of the chair
This Fall semester we saw the transition of Department Chair from Axel Drees, who has provided outstanding leadership for the last six years, to Chang Kee Jung. Exciting times are ahead for our department!
MAT program in the 5+ club
Our Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program received the 2020-2021 5+ Club award for graduating 5 or more physics teachers. We are one of only 9 institutions recognized in the nation.
Outstanding SPS Chapter
Our UG Society of Physics Students (SPS) Chapter has been recognized as a 2021 Outstanding Chapter by the SPS National Council. This is the highest level of distinction given to chapters and is received by less than 15% chapters annually, with just 80 of 844 chapters so honored this year.