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The UC San Diego chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) has won an Outstanding Chapter Award from the SPS National Office. This is the first time the chapter has been recognized for its excellence as a top-tier student-led physical sciences organization, a designation given to fewer than 10 percent of all SPS chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and internationally. The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association designed for students and

UC San Diego chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) wins Outstanding Chapter Award

The American Physical Society has designated UC San Diego’s Mayer Hall as a historic site in recognition of research conducted by physicists Walter Kohn and Lu Jeu Sham on density functional theory. Their development of the "Kohn-Sham equation" inside Mayer Hall became the foundation for the computation of the material properties of electrons and nuclei. Understanding the electronic properties of complex systems is essential to the design and engineering of new materials and drugs. Kohn and Pierre Hohenberg on sabbatical in P...

Honoring the Historic Contributions of Mayer Hall to the Field of Physics

With renewed funding, UC San Diego-based Q-MEEN-C moves one step closer to neuromorphic computing The first generation of computers used vacuum tubes. The second, transistors and the third, integrated circuits. Each new generation allowed computers to be faster, smaller and more energy efficient. Now, as the world stretches beyond the limits of integrated circuits, what does the fourth generation of computing look like? The answer may lie with quantum materials that are able to achieve ne...

Physicists Receive $12.6M From Department of Energy to Continue Exploring Next-Generation Computing

Mayer Hall recognized as the birthplace of density functional theory Is there magic in the walls of Mayer Hall? This is the question Oleg Shpyrko, chair of the Department of Physics at the University of California San Diego, asked the audience gathered in the auditorium for a daylong series of events to celebrate the building’s designation as a historical site by the American Physical Society (APS). Mayer Hall, after all, was named after famed theoretical physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer—...

Honoring a UC San Diego Landmark and Its Lasting Impact on Physics

University of California San Diego Professor of Physics Olga Dudko has been named a 2022 Simons Investigator, one of the most prestigious awards for a theoretical research scientist. Dudko, who was among 16 researchers worldwide to be awarded, is a theoretical physicist whose work seeks to establish unifying physical principles in biology. Simons Investigators are supported by the Simons Foundation, whose mission is to advance the frontiers...

Olga Dudko Receives Prestigious Simons Investigator Award

Natalie Lam, a UCSD undergraduate majoring in Physics with a specialization in Astrophysics, has been named as a recipient of the 2022 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory / Society of Physics Students (LLNL/SPS) Scholarship. Natalie has been active in the leadership of the UC San Diego chapter of SPS and is the current chapter president. UC San Diego SPS is a member of National SPS (https://www.spsnational.org).

Physics Undergraduate Natalie Lam awarded LLNL/SPS Scholarship

UC San Diego Associate Professor of Physics Shelley Wright will receive the 2022 Drake Award from the SETI Institute. Wright will be recognized for her decades-long work in the field of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Wright is the principal investigator of UC San Diego’s Optical and Infrared Laboratory (OIRlab) in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences. The OIRlab uses optical and infrared astronomical ins...

Shelley Wright Named 2022 SETI Institute Drake Award Recipient

Date: Friday & Saturday, April 22-23, 2022 Location: University of San Diego - Shiley Center for Science and Technology Registration is $10, and covers meals on Friday and Saturday, you can pay when you register or at the meeting.

Society of Physics Students - Zone 18 Meeting - April 22-23, 2022 @ USD

If you touch a hot pan, your hand may instantly recoil. This action happens automatically thanks to synapses, which not only help your body sense that the pan is hot, but also send a signal to your hand to pull away. Synapses are the structures through which neurons speak to each other and help govern many physiological functions—including the ability to process and store memories. Synapses from different biological systems vary greatly in size, speed of signal transmission, and molecular constituents. Despite these variation...

Bridging a Gap in the Theory of Synaptic Transmission

UCSD Physics professors Mischa Fogler and Dusan Keres are among the world’s most influential researchers in their fields according to the 2021 Clarivate listing of Most Highly Cited Researchers in the World. Clarivate’s 2021 list identifies some 6600 researchers from across the globe who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. UC San Diego ranked 9th globally for most highly cited resear...

UCSD Physics Professors Fogler and Keres among the world’s most influential researchers