Physics and Astronomy in the News Archive
This page is an archive of news articles concerning our department that have been published by the university. For a list of department news headlines, please check the Department News archive.
Welcome to the Department!
We welcome two new assistant professsors to our department, and we're excited to see what new discoveries they'll find! Welcome Drs. Riccio and Ringer!
Stony Brook University's Patrick Meade Elected as an American Physical Society Fellow
Stony Brook University’s Patrick Meade, professor in the C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP), was recently elected to a fellowship with the American Physical Society (APS).
Stony Brook University Recognized as Leader in High School Physics Teacher Preparation
For the 7th time in 9 years, SBU has been recognized by APS and AAPT as a member of the PhysTEC 5+ Club for its outstanding work in graduating 9 physics teachers in the 2022-2023 academic year.
3rd Annual C.N. Yang Colloquium
The 3rd Annual C.N. Yang Colloquium will be given by Prof. David Gross, who received the Nobel Prize in 2004!
QIST Project Led by Stony Brook Selected for a NQVL Pilot Project
The SCY-QNet (Wide-Area Quantum Network To Demonstrate Quantum Advantage) proposal led by our own Eden Figueroa has been selected by NSF as one of the five pilot projects for the NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL).
SUNY Honors Department Faculty Members
Three of our department's faculty members have been recently awarded with the highest honors from SUNY! Please join us in congratulating Professors John Hobbs, Laszlo Mihaly, and Jac Verbaarschot!
Remembering Jim Simons
Beloved friend, generous philanthropist, pioneering mathematician, and visionary leader James H. Simons died on May 10 at the age of 86.
Dr. Zamolodchikov Honored at 2024 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony
He was co-recipient of the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, “for profound contributions to statistical physics and quantum field theory, with diverse and far-reaching applications in different branches of physics and mathematics.”
Dr. Deshpande Named BNL Interim Associate Lab Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics
This is a critically important position for BNL and will further strengthen BNL-SBU cooperation. Congratulations, Dr. Deshpande!
Kenneth Lanzetta Receives 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholar Award to Chile
Awardees engage in cutting-edge research, often continuing research collaborations started abroad, laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Congratulations to Dr. Lanzetta for this prestigious award!
SBU Research Team Makes Progress Towards Quantum Internet
Dr. Figueroa's group and collaborators have demonstrated the feasibility of a foundational quantum network measurement that employs room-temperature quantum memories!
Welcome to the Department!
We welcome five new assistant professors to our department, and we're excited to see what new discoveries they'll find! Welcome Drs. Arnold, Dao, Kumar, Riccio, and Esha!
T2K Experiment Enters a New Phase in World-leading Neutrino Research
The T2K Collaboration has started taking data using enhanced detectors! Our department's Neutrino and Nucleon Decay group plays a leading role on this experiment. Click to read more!
Happy Holidays!
Many members of the department were recognized for their outstanding research, teaching and services and many were promoted. We got together in person, shared our lives, and created new stories and memorable moments.
Adjunct Prof. Ilan Ben-Zvi receives Dieter Möhl award
This award, sponsored by CERN, recognizes "his outstanding contributions to the development of high energy electron cooling and application of particle beam cooling at BNL."
Barry Barish Awarded National Medal of Science
Department member Dr. Barish, a Nobel Laureate and Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics, was awarded a 2022 National Medal of Science, for his "exemplary service to science, including groundbreaking research on sub-atomic particles."
Derek Teaney Elected 2023 APS Fellow
The American Physical Society recently announced its new cohort of Fellows for 2023, and Prof. Teaney was elected! This distinction recognizes him as a leading physicist whose research and service as an educator have helped advance the frontiers of science and technology.
Stony Brook Physicist Awarded Prestigious Breakthrough Prize
Alexander Zamolodchikov was awarded for his "profound contributions to statistical physics and quantum field theory, with diverse and far-reaching applications in different branches of physics and mathematics."
Associate Professor Mengkun Liu Receives $1.25M Grant
The grant, from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as part of its Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative, is dedicated to supporting investigators at the forefront of experimental physics research!
2nd Annual C.N. Yang Colloquium
The 2nd Annual C.N. Yang Colloquium will be given by Dr. Serge Haroche, who received the Nobel Prize in 2012!
Axel Drees Named Interim Dean of College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Drees, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has held many leadership roles, both administrative and research related, and will help actively recruit strong candidates to replace the dean. Congratulations, Dr. Drees!
Reappearing Supernova and a First-of-its-Kind Measurement of Universe's Expansion
Drs. Birrer and von der Linden, along with collaborators, have used a first-of-its-kind technique based on gravitational lensing to measure the expansion rate of the Universe!
2023 Department Photo
Dean Schamberger Receives SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service
Dean Schmberger who is a research professor in the High Energy Physics group is a recipient of the 2023 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service. Dean came to Stony Brook as an undergrad in 1960's and has never left. For essentially a half century, Dean has been a key member of the HEP group contributing to discoveries and scientific advances in experimental particle physics. He was the backbone of the group, and assisted and helped other group members tirelessly. More recently Dean has been working as de facto IT person for the department helping many people with various issues.
The department sincerely congratulates Dean for this richly deserved recognition.
Brookhaven National Lab Director to Join Department
Dr. JoAnne Hewett, the new and first ever female director at BNL, has recently been appointed as a tenured professor in the department and the YITP! As director, she will oversee the lab at this critical time as BNL prepares to construct the Electron-Ion Collider.
Hal Metcalf Receives Esther Hoffman Beller Medal
Optica awarded Hal Metcalf, Distinguished Teaching Professor, for his outstanding mentorship of undergraduate student optics research and organizing an annual symposium for students to present their work!
Professor Martin Rocek Named 2022-2023 SUNY Distinguished Professor
James Lattimer Named American Astronomical Society Fellow
Dr. Lattimer has been selected as a 2023 Fellow of the American Astronomical Society, for his formative discoveries about the evolution and structure of neutron stars.
Professor Birrer Joins Department
We welcome Simon Birrer, our new Assistant Professor in Astronomy and Cosmology! He received his PhD from ETH Zurich in 2016, was was a Postdoctoral Scholar at UCLA, and then a Kavli Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford. Click the link above to see his profile!
Happy Holidays!
Many members of the department were recognized for their outstanding research, teaching, and service. After two long years of the pandemic, we gathered in person and shared our lives, creating new stories and memorable moments. Click below to see the full card!
Barry Barish Awarded Copernicus Prize
Dr. Barish, a Nobel Laureate who will join our department as the inaugural President's Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics, has received the award for his "exceptional contributions to the development of world science."
SBU Awarded $6.5M Grant to Build a New Quantum Internet Test Bed
The center will catalyze new technologies to accelerate today’s internet functionality, to improve the security of our communications, and to enable dramatic advances in computing.
Nikita Nekrasov Awarded 2023 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics
for his research and "elegant application of powerful mathematical techniques to extract exact results for quantum field theories"
Department Members Awarded NSF Early Career Awards
Two of our junior faculty members, Cyrus Dreyer and Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi, have just won the prestigious NSF Early Career Awards! Both professors are dedicated to undergraduate education and early research involvements besides excelling in their own respective research.
QuEST Program to Increase Exposure to Quantum Information Science
The Quantum Education for Students and Teachers (QuEST), led by Dr. Kelly with colleagues Dr. Wei and Dr. Schneble, will increase exposure to quantum information science knowledge for students in grades 8-12!
Nobel Laureate Barry Barish to Join SBU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy
This interview with local newspaper Times Beacon Record details this exciting announcement!
Nobel Laureate Barry Barish To Join Department of Physics and Astronomy
Dr. Barry Barish has been appointed as the inaugural President's Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics, beginning in the Fall of 2023.
Inaugural C.N. Yang Colloquium presented by Dr. Barry Barish, Nobel Laureate
SBU, BNL Physicist in Simons Foundation Collaboration to Explore Building Blocks of Matter
“By understanding confinement, we can learn fundamentally how hadrons — protons, neutrons and other composite particles made of quarks and gluons — are put together." -- Dr. Venugopalan, adjunct professor.
Physics Department Members Receive SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence
Jin Bentley and Ismail Zahed have received state-wide recognition by being awarded two of the 2021-2022 State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence.
Physics Department Alumni Receive University's 40 Under Forty Award
Giovanni Milione, Rustum Nyquist, and Adam Siegel have been designated as recipients of Stony Brook's 40 Under Forty honorees for 2021.
Simons Foundation Partners with Stony Brook University to Improve Diversity in STEM
Robert Shrock and Abhay Deshpande Named 2021-2022 SUNY Distinguished Professors
Discovery of Matter-Wave Polaritons Sheds New Light on Photonic Quantum Technologies
Jennifer Cano awarded Sloan Research Fellowship
Abhay Deshpande named AAAS fellow
Physics and Astronomy Earns Top Honors for Teacher Preparation Program
Chang Kee Jung Wins American Physical Society’s 2022 Lilienfeld Prize
Tom Hemmick and Jac Verbaarschot named APS Fellows
The Ernest Courant Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Engineering is Developing the Next Generation of Particle Accelerator Talent
Two Research Projects Involving SBU Faculty Receive DOE INCITE Awards
Physics Postdoc Named Finalist in Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists
Quantum Computing Lab Is Building a Better Internet
Dmitri Kharzeev Elected to The Academy of Europe
