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.
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 that 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.