Illinois Physics | The Grainger College of Engineering | UIUC | Physics

Goldschmidt quoted on NPR: Trump administration’s closing of NIST’s Atomic Spectroscopy Group will impede science and medicine

The group’s spectral measurements are used in almost every field: ‘You look at the very specific color of a star, it can tell you the makeup of the star. You look at the blood in someone's finger ... and that can tell you how much oxygen is in the blood,’ she says.

Neubauer to serve on APS Executive Committee for Group on Data Science

Neubauer brings expertise in developing programs and coursework at the intersection of data science and physics for Illinois Physics and the A3D3 Institute.

Nicolás Yunes elected Fellow of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation (ISGRG)

“For the groundbreaking discovery of universal properties of neutron stars and for influential work on testing modified gravity theories using gravitational waves.”

Shapiro's 1983 textbook celebrated as part of the canon of gravitation and relativity

Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects educated generations of astrophysicists

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Research Highlights

Click on a research highlight to vote for your favorite submission to the Research Highlight Science Writing Contest for graduate students.

Can neutron stars contain dark matter inside of them?

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Research Highlights
February 18, 2025

Quantum motion shapes the melting line of hydrogen at extreme pressure

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Research Highlights
February 18, 2025

A new family of non-Hermitian skin effects from kinetic constraints

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Research Highlights
December 10, 2024

A glimpse into interacting quantum systems with quantum Monte Carlo

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Research Highlights
November 30, 2024

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Donor support for undergraduate research is funding student participation in cross-disciplinary study of dark matter

Illinois Physics rising junior David Balut, the 2024 A.C. Anderson Undergraduate Research Scholar, has been a member of the Peter Abbamonte research group since November 2022. This summer, his donor-supported research includes collaborating with the Yoni Kahn group on the physics of dark matter, using organic scintillators for anisotropic detection. He will also continue to study strange metals in the Abbamonte lab. In addition to the AC Anderson Award, Balut is a recipient of the T.R. Schlaeder Engineering award, the Robert M. Stephens Engineering award, and has been a James Scholar since Fall 2022.

The A.C. Anderson Undergraduate Research Scholar award is made possible by Illinois Physics donors. The award is named for Ansel C. Anderson, an alumnus (PhD, 1961), faculty member (1962-1992), and department head (1986-1992) who made seminal contributions to low-temperature physics, particularly on the thermal properties of metals and glasses.

Learn more about how to become a donor and support initiatives like undergraduate research opportunities!

Give to the Engineering Visionary Scholarship.

EVS attracts the brightest students, ensures a diverse and talented class, and helps reduce student debt.

“I love cosmology—the study of the large structures of the universe, the Big Bang, and the questions of dark energy and matter. I have a strong interest in developing astronomy instrumentation—telescopes, satellites, and sounding rockets. The Engineering Visionary Scholarship freed me up to pursue these interests while exploring the fundamentals of the universe through physics.”

— Kayleigh Excell, Class of '24, EVS Scholarship recipient

Learn More

Watch Illinois Physics and Astronomy Professor Charles Gammie on The UIUC Talkshow. From the origins of black holes to the nature of time itself, enjoy this captivating odyssey through the cosmos, guided by a brilliant scientific mind.

Watch "The Physics PhD," a parody of the Barbie movie's "I'm just Ken" scene, created by graduate students in the Fahad Mahmood research group with support from the Illinois Physics graduate student community. Earning a PhD in physics is long road that can leave one feeling like they are living in a world of plastic... or maybe a graphene lattice.