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Condensed Matter Physics
Condensed Matter Experiment
Condensed Matter Theory

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In the Media

In the Akron Beacon Journal : Illinois Physics alumnus and retired Kent State professor shares passion for flight with Young Eagles

Research
Theoretical Biological Physics
Biological Physics
Biophysics

Researchers embrace imperfection to improve biomolecule transport

In Memoriam

In memoriam : J. Robert Schrieffer, Illinois alumnus and Nobelist who devised the BCS wave function for superconductors

Jessie Shelton selected for PECASE

In The Washington Post : John Robert Schrieffer, Nobel laureate who studied superconductivity, dies at 88

News

In the Media
Outreach

In The News-Gazette : "UI baseball physicist looks to solve mystery of home run boom"

If he told you, he would have to kill you.

So Alan Nathan, the University of Illinois scholar who is the unofficial physicist of Major League Baseball, is keeping his lips sealed.

“There is a limit to what I can talk about,” said Nathan. “It will become public soon.”

What is so sensitive that discretion is required?

Nathan and a group of fellow academics, on assignment from MLB Commissioner Rod Manfred, are closing in on the cause of the home runs being hit out of MLB stadiums in record numbers.

Research
Quantum Information Science
Condensed Matter Theory

Illinois Physics researchers awarded DOE grants to advance quantum information science

Physics Professors Bryan Clark and Taylor Hughes of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been awarded US Department of Energy (DOE) grants to develop new quantum computing capabilities. The awards are part of a $37-million DOE initiative supporting research that will lay the groundwork for the development of new quantum information systems and that will use current quantum information capabilities to advance research in material and chemical sciences.

Quantum information science (QIS) is an exciting and rapidly growing field promising a broad range of advances beyond today’s classical technologies. QIS exploits quantum mechanics—the theory that explains nature at all scales, from electrons, to atoms, to neutron stars—as a platform for information processing, data storage, and secure communications. Quantum computers will use qubits, non-binary bits capable of hosting near limitless quantum states to process and store data, while quantum communications will leverage quantum mechanical properties such as entanglement to generate unhackable encryption.

In the Media
Outreach

In The News-Gazette : Young Scholars Program gives high school students chance to do real research in UI labs

In their white lab coats, Madisen LeShoure and Rola Abudayeh throw around scientific terms such as “hydrophobic” and “micro goniometer” like real research pros.

Which they are, in fact, becoming through a program offered by the University of Illinois and funded by the National Science Foundation.

The two Champaign Central High School students are participating in the Young Scholars Program at the Grainger College of Engineering. Now in its third year, the program immerses 25 to 30 local high school students in a research project on campus for six weeks during the summer.

Six of them, including LeShoure and Abudayeh, get to continue that research during the school year, working two hours a week with UI scientists. They will also participate in the Emerging Researchers National Conference in Washington, D.C., in February, presenting their results alongside college students from across the nation.

Research
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

A Torque on Conventional Magnetic Wisdom

Physicists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have observed a magnetic phenomenon called the “anomalous spin-orbit torque” (ASOT) for the first time. Professor Virginia Lorenz and graduate student Wenrui Wang, now graduated and employed as an industry scientist, made this observation, demonstrating that there exists competition between what is known as spin-orbit coupling and the alignment of an electron spin to the magnetization. This can be thought of as analogous to the anomalous Hall effect (AHE).

Research
Outreach

Facebook funds research on spread of hate speech

Illinois Physics Professor Barry Bradlyn and his colleague, State University of New York at Binghamton Computer Science Professor Jeremy Blackburn, have been awarded a Facebook research grant to trace the propagation and dissemination of hate speech on social media.

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donor stories

Alumnus gift continues legacy of excellence at Illinois Physics

“We deeply appreciate Gary Kelly’s generosity and his investment in our department’s core missions of research, teaching, and outreach,” comments Head of Department and Professor Matthias Grosse Perdekamp. “Unrestricted funds such as these are applied where they will make the greatest impact. Through his generosity, Gary Kelly’s legacy at Illinois will include his support of important new opportunities directly in line with our core missions. A large portion of Gary’s gift will support the research of exceptional women faculty early in their careers, enabling Illinois Physics to attract and retain promising women physicists.”

Engineering Visionary Scholarships

$25 Million
Matching
Challenge

Now through the end of 2019, The Grainger Foundation will match all donations made to the College's Engineering Visionary Scholarship Initiative.

Learn more

Watch the Center for the Physics of Living Cells video

The Center for the Physics of Living Cells is an NSF Physics Frontiers Center. In true "Urbana style," theoretical and experimental scientists collaborating at the CPLC are elucidating the fundamental processes at the core of life in quantitative physical detail. The CPLC Summer School is world renowned for its training of young scientists in leading-edge research methods, advancing this interdisciplinary physics frontier.

Why choose Illinois Physics? Here's a video!

Are you ready to study the glow of black holes? Or how superconductors can carry electricity without resistance? Physics opens the secrets of the universe. Illinois has a long tradition of excellence in physics, and we continue to advance the frontiers of science every day. Watch the video!