Announcements

Notices prepared for posting on the UConn Physics Department web page under the announcements section.

Department Head greeting

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Dear Friends of UConn Physics,

While I started last year’s greeting on a somewhat apprehensive note, I remained hopeful because of the deep strengths of our department. As it turns out, I am pleased to say that this has been a positively exciting year! My one-word summary last year was turbulent. This year I chose Quantum. At the Federal, State, University, and Department level, Quantum science is a top priority, for its scientific interest, its ability to revolutionize computing, and its impact on the economy. All of this potential was summed up in a large grant proposal, called QuantumCT, to the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program. The proposal brought together UConn, Yale, SCSU, the State of Connecticut, and many industrial partners. On July 15, NSF announced that QuantumCT is being funded! This is a major milestone on many levels. Many faculty in the Physics Department contributed to the proposal and the award will affect much of the research in the department, from condensed matter physics, to atomic, molecular, and optical physics, to nuclear physics. It will also impact our education and outreach efforts.

Even before the QuantumCT award was announced, UConn committed to pursuing Quantum science research. As part of this effort, President Radenka Maric challenged the Physics Department to find an extraordinary world-class researcher to anchor and coordinate the quantum efforts at UConn. I am pleased to say that we found and successfully recruited such a researcher: Dr. Dmitri (Dima) Kharzeev, who will be joining us in the Fall from Stony Brook. Dima has a long and distinguished career as a well-known nuclear theorist but has made significant contributions in condensed matter physics and AMO physics, as well. He has also started several Quantum initiatives. We are very excited to welcome Dima to UConn Physics!

An important aspect of QuantumCT is workforce development and UConn Physics is contributing to this, as well. Recently, through the efforts of Profs. Hancock, Valente, Volkov, McCarron, Dunne, and Colombo, we introduced an online Quantum Certificate program targeted at engineers in industry wanting to come up to speed on the latest quantum technologies. Prof. McCarron recently created a course on quantum computing, and we will be introducing quantum mechanics throughout our curriculum. Prof. Joo is developing a course on creating Artificial Intelligence on a quantum computer – combining two of the hottest fields in science, right now. Prof. Joo and our former colleague Prof. Cote organized a second DOE-workshop on the application of Quantum Information Science to Nuclear Physics at UMass Boston. In addition, Prof. Joo received not one but two major grants (>$1 M) from the DOE: “Medium Energy Nuclear Physics Experiments,” and “Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations for Studies of the 3D Nucleon Structure.”

With all the excitement about AI and Quantum, the only other field that I can think of that generates such attention is Astrophysics, and, here too, UConn Physics stands out. Prof. Battersby and her team were highlighted in a press release, shared around the world, for their large observing program, ACES. The main release was from the European Southern Observatory with a local UConn press release. Prof. Battersby was also interviewed by Sky & Telescope, and the news was covered by more than 20 outlets, including Scientific American, the Guardian, ABC Australia, Le Monde, Washington Post.

On the local level, we are very grateful to have received generous donations to our Observatory and Planetarium, which Prof. Guthrie has been using to upgrade the Observatory and make it more freely available to the public. Both facilities continue to attract much attention from the community.

Our faculty continue to be recognized with major awards. Profs. Berrah and Santos were both inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Prof. Tandoğan received the 2026 Petit Family Foundation Women in Science Leadership Award of the Connecticut Science Center. Prof. Gai received a (second) Fulbright Award as a “Fulbright Specialist” with Tenure on the 2026-2029 Roster. Prof. Blum received a Humbolt Fellowship. Prof. Guthrie’s book: Demystifying Classical Particles, Fields, and Relativity Through the Lagrangian Formalism, has been published and available from World Scientific.

Our undergraduate students are doing very well with many accomplishments and awards. Alexander Yi has only been at UConn one year, coming straight from high school. Nevertheless, he is already a junior, on the Dean’s list, and in the Honor’s program. Moreover, he received our Mark Miller Award for best undergraduate research proposal and received an APS award to present his research at the APS-Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) annual meeting. Owen Finch also received an award to participate in the same conference. Owen Finch and Sean Gasperini received Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships at Brookhaven National Labs. Michael Frank and Owen Finch, performed summer research work at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics at Osaka University in Japan, organized by Prof. Joo. Finally, our Katzenstein Prize for best undergraduate research went to Jefferson Tang for “Dynamical signatures and control of time-reversal symmetry breaking in twisted nodal superconductors.”

Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, from MIT, presented our Katzenstein Distinguished Lecture titled “Magic Angle Graphene: The Twist and Shout of Quantum Materials.” Despite the non-standard timing of the lecture, it was exciting and well-attended.

Our Edward Pollack Distinguished Lecture was presented by Prof. Vladan Vuletić, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics at MIT. The lecture was titled “The Quantum Age: from Atomic Clocks to Quantum Computers” and fit perfectly with our current excitement about all things Quantum!

Finally, I would like to cordially invite you to attend our 28th annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecture on Friday, October 16, 2026, which will be held in our department. This year’s speaker is Prof. Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at Harvard University. Dr. Capasso is known for his pioneering work on quantum cascade lasers and has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science. He is also a member of the

National Academy of Sciences. I hope you can all attend and catch up on everything that is going on in the department. I look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

George Gibson
Department Head, Physics

UConn STARs Brings Physics to Hartford Public High School

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The UConn STARs program has been visiting local Hartford public schools every Spring since 2022, bringing physics demos and enthusiasm directly to Hartford students!

In 2026, as part of the UConn STARs program, 18 UConn undergraduate students visited Hartford Public High School (HPHS) over the course of the week of May 18-22, 2026. These students taught eight classes in the classrooms of Mr. Joe Scalercio and Mr. Dave Babbitt and also held two lunchtime solar observing sessions. We estimate that the STARs outreach program reached about 150 high school students total, with many exciting conversations about space and careers in the sciences.

During the academic year, the STARs program ran 27 events on professional development, community building, and mentorship for the 20 members of the program. Members of the STARs program developed four interactive physics lesson plans in coordination with the HPHS teachers on the topics of: 1) Mechanics, 2) the Physics of Sound, 3) Thermodynamics, and 4) Electricity. The lesson plans were designed to cater to a variety of student learning needs and background levels. Each lesson plan had a short lecture component, hands-on demos, and stations for small group activities. STARs also hosted a table at the Hartford Public Library at an event on June 6th, 2026, engaging with many members of the local community.

Below are some photos highlighting the events, please see more on our webpage.

  • UConn STARs Outreach at HPHS Spring 2026

Professor Federico Capasso, Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer

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The University of Connecticut, Department of Physics, is proud to announce the 28th Annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer on Friday, October 16, 2026, by Professor Federico Capasso.

Federico Capasso is Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at Harvard University. He received the Doctor of Physics degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Rome, Italy, in 1973 and after doing research in fiber optics at Fondazione Ugo Bordoni in Rome, joined Bell Labs in 1976. He was Vice President of Physical Research (2000-2002) before joining Harvard. He and his collaborators made many wide-ranging contributions to semiconductor devices, pioneering the design technique known as band-structure engineering. He applied it to novel low noise quantum well avalanche photodiodes, heterojunction transistors, memory devices and lasers. He and his collaborators invented and demonstrated the quantum cascade laser (QCL).

His honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and honorary membership in the Franklin Institute.

In 2005 he received, jointly with Nobel Laureates Frank Wilczek and Anton Zeilinger, the King Faisal International Prize for Science for his research on quantum cascade lasers. The citation called him “one of the most creative and influential physicists in the world.” The international society of optics and photonics (SPIE), selected Capasso to receive the 2013 SPIE Gold Medal, the highest honor the society bestows. He received the Frederic Ives Medal Prize from the Optical Society of America (the highest honor of the society in 2019) for seminal and wide-ranging contributions to optical physics, quantum electronics and nanophotonics.

He is also the recipient of the IEEE Edison Medal, Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, the Chisesi-Tomassoni award, the John Price Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, the R. W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America, the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society W. Streifer Award, the Materials Research Society Medal, the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics (UK), the Duddell Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics (UK), the Willis Lamb Medal for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton “Leonardo da Vinci” Prize (France), the Welker Memorial Medal (Germany), the New York Academy of Sciences Award, the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in Electronics, the Goff Smith prize of the University of Michigan, the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis for research in applied laser technology and the Julius Springer Prize in Applied Physics, the Jan Czochralski Medal of the European Materials Research society for his lifetime achievements in Materials Science, he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Applied Photonics and the Matteucci Medal in 2019 from the Italian National Academy of Sciences for his invention of the quantum cascade laser.

For details of the lecture please see the Web Calendar post.

Professor Vladan Vuletić, Pollack Distinguished Lecturer

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The University of Connecticut, Department of Physics is proud to announce Edward Pollack Distinguished Lecture will be on Friday, November 7th, 2025. The speaker is Prof. Vladan Vuletić, Department of Physics, MIT. The title of his lecture is “The Quantum Age: From Atomic Clocks to Quantum Computers” For the time and the location of the lecture see the Web Calendar post.

Vladan Vuletic photoProf. Vladan Vuletić, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics at MIT, is a leading figure in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, with pioneering contributions to quantum science and technology. Born in Peć, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), and educated in Germany. In 1992, he earned his Physics Diploma with highest honors from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and in 1997, a Ph.D. in Physics (summa cum laude). He then conducted postdoctoral research with Nobel Laureate Steven Chu at Stanford University as a Lynen Fellow of the Humboldt Foundation. After faculty appointments at Stanford and MIT, he rose to the rank of Full Professor at MIT in 2011. Vuletic is Director of the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms and Chair of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science of the American Physical Society.

Prof. Vuletić’s research spans ultracold atoms, laser cooling and trapping, tests of physics beyond the Standard Model, quantum metrology, many-body entanglement, and quantum
simulation and computing. He has published over 150 refereed articles and is internationally recognized for his breakthroughs in harnessing quantum entanglement for precision measurements and for advancing neutral atom quantum processors. He is a co-founder of QuEra Computing, a leading quantum computing company developing scalable neutral-atom-based quantum platforms.

His honors include a Sloan Research Fellowship, Fellowship of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Marko Jarić Prize of Serbia, Membership in the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and, most recently, the 2025 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science.

Prof. Vuletić continues to push the frontiers of quantum science, exploring novel ways to control and entangle quantum systems for both fundamental discovery and next generation quantum technologies.

The abstract of Prof. Vuletić lecture: Atom-light interactions are at the heart of atomic and quantum physics, enabling new applications ranging from precision measurements and quantum sensors to quantum information processing. Many of these applications rely on, or benefit from, quantum entanglement between particles, the “spooky action at a distance” loathed by Einstein. I will discuss two such applications, spin squeezing for improved atomic clocks, and quantum computing with neutral atoms.

Professor Gai’s Five Months Fulbright Stint, Spring 2025

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Professor Gai completed in May 2025, a five-month Fulbright stint in Bucharest Romania. During this visit he collaborated on research at the new EU world highest power (10 PW) laser lab, the Extreme Light Infrastructure Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP), in Magurele near Bucharest. He taught a graduate class at the ELI-NP on “Physical Concepts of Stellar Evolution”, with 40 students registered, and a university wide general class intended for undergraduate students at the University Polytechnica of Bucharest (UPB) on “Layman Introduction to Astrophysics”, with 120 students registered. Gai was very impressed by the high quality of students at the UPB, that is known as one of the best science universities in eastern Europe. Professor Gai intend to teach the class he developed for the graduate course at the ELI-NP as a graduate special topic course on “Nuclear Physics of Stars” in the Physics department.

Perhaps among the most inspiring experience was meeting a UPB student, Valeria Cirlan, who traveled from Suceva to Bucharest to listen to his lectures. When inquiring, he found out that Suceva is up north by Moldova close to the Ukraine Border. In fact, Valeria took seven hours train ride, each way to and from Bucharest, to join Gai’s class. The enthusiasm for learning of the UPB students was indeed an inspiring experience.
M. Gai, Fulbright
Professor Gai, center, posing with his class at the University Politechnica di Bucharest. The last class slide, on the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe, is on display.

2024-2025 Physics PhDs

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James Andrew Casey-Clyde
Advisor: Chiara Mingarelli
Thesis: “Multi-Messenger Constraints on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries”

Provakar Datta
Advisor: Andrew Puckett
Thesis: “Precision Measurements of the Neutron Magnetic Form Factor to High Momentum Transfer using Durand’s Method”

Megan Davis
Advisor: Jonathan Trump
Thesis: “Timing is Everything: Single and Binary Quasars in Massive Time-Domain Surveys”

Logan Fries
Advisor: Jonathan Trump
Thesis: “Echo Mapping the Kinematic Environments of Supermassive Black Holes”

Ashok Gurung
Advisor: Serge Nakhmanson
Thesis: “Predictive Multiscale Modeling of Dielectric and Electromechanical Properties in Electroactive Materials”

Valerii Klimenko
Advisor: Kyungseon Joo
Thesis: “Differential Cross Sections from CLAS12 RG-A Inclusive Electron Scattering”

Kaitlin Lyszak
Advisor: Jason Hancock
Thesis: “Studies of Non Equilibrium Laser Induced Effects in Metals”

Brean Maynard
Advisor: Peter Schweitzer
Thesis: “Theoretical Studies of Hadron Structure”

Md Ashiq Rahman
Advisor: Niloy Dutta
Thesis: “Ultrafast Optical Pulse Generation and Supercontinuum Generation in Chalcogenide Waveguides”

Dhan Rana
Advisor: Boris Sinkovic
Thesis: “Studies of the Electronic Structure of Selected 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides”

Hugh Sharp
Advisor: Jonathan Trump
Thesis: “Continuum Lag Investigation Of Diverse Quasar Populations, and Contextualization Of The Accretion-Disk Size Problem”

Bochao Xu
Advisor: Ilya Sochnikov
Thesis: “Scanning SQUID Investigation of Time-reversal Symmetry Breaking in Exotic Quantum Materials”

UConn Honorary Degree Awarded to Alumnus, Manasse Mbonye, PhD 1996

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R. Mallett and M. MbonyeManasse Mbonye (UConn Physics PhD 1996, Advisor: Ron Mallett) was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree, and was the Commencement Speaker at the UConn Commencement ceremony in Gampel Pavilion on May 12, 2025. Manasse has had a remarkable career in physics, politics and scientific administration since completing his PhD in Physics at UConn in 1996. He was named the Outstanding UConn PhD graduate of 1996, in recognition of his scientific work and his efforts to assist his home country, Rwanda, after the tragic genocide period in 1994. After leaving UConn, Manasse held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Michigan and as a National Research Council (NRC) Senior Associate Researcher at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. He subsequently held an Assistant Professor position at Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2011 he returned to Rwanda to lead the post-genocide reconstruction of the National University of Rwanda (NUR) and of the scientific, education and research sectors in Rwanda. He served as Vice Rector for Academics (Provost), and later Acting Rector (President) of the National University of Rwanda (NUR) 2011-2013. During his tenure NUR received over 55 million dollars in grants, in part from SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency), and NUR established academic relations with several international universities. Prof Mbonye also founded the Rwanda Space Agency, and is President of the Rwanda Academy of Science.

In collaboration with Gerald Dunne (UConn Physics), Prof. Mbonye is working to establish academic exchanges, for both faculty and students, between UConn Physics and the Physics Department at the University of Rwanda. This has the support of the UConn Administration. As part of this effort, Prof. Dunne visited the University of Rwanda in 2024, and met with a wide variety of leaders there. Prof. Dunne was hosted by Prof. Joseph Ntahompagaze, Head of the UR Physics Department. Prof. Dunne gave a physics colloquium, and had meetings with the UR Vice Chancellor and Provost, and with the Physics faculty and students. He toured the Physics teaching laboratories, and visited the Univ of Rwanda College of Education, hosted by Prof. Lakhan Lal Yadav, Professor of Physics and Physics Education. Dr. Yadav is Director of the African Centre of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science. Prof. Dunne also met with the leaders of the Rwanda Space Agency, and of the new Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and eHealth (CEBE). Prof. Mbonye played key roles in these educational and scientific initiatives.

Prof. Mbonye is planning to visit UConn Physics for 3 months during the Fall 2025 semester, working on research in his field of cosmology and astrophysics, and on the further development of the relationship between UConn and URwanda. He is keen to interact with students, staff and faculty. We look forward to hosting our distinguished alumnus, and encourage everyone to reach out and make him welcome.

  • Rwanda Space Agency

Department Head greeting

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Dear Friends of UConn Physics,

While I look forward to sharing the news and accomplishments of the Physics Department over the past year, I can’t help but say that one word keeps coming to mind: turbulent. There is no getting around the fact that at the university, state, and federal levels, things have been changing on an almost daily basis. This uncertainty has presented the department with many challenges, but two things have helped me immensely. First, in my position as Department Head, I have always appreciated the abilities and dedication of the department staff. However, the past three months have stressed the department in ways I have not seen in all my time at UConn and I am so grateful for how the staff rallied in response and showed the incredible depth of their commitment to the department. Second, despite the difficulties, the faculty and students have carried on doing great work as though nothing unusual was going on and I am excited to share some highlights with you.

Our faculty have been very busy this past year. Prof. Pavel Volkov received the Nevill F. Mott Prize for his work on unconventional superconductors. Prof. Cara Battersby is a team leader on a NASA program, PRIMA, one of two proposals that are competing to become a $1B space probe. Prof. Daniel Angles-Alcazar managed, in one year, to get tenure and promotion to Associate Professor and receive a Sloan Fellowship and an NSF Early Career Award. Prof. Andrew Puckett got promoted to Full Professor and Prof. Niraj Ghimire and Prof. Erin Scanlon were promoted to Associate Professor in Residence. CLAS Awards went to Prof. Matt Guthrie for Broader Impacts, Service, and Visibility and Prof. Sarah Trallero for Teaching, Learning, and Student Success. We had two books published: Mode-Locked Lasers: Introduction to Ultrafast Semiconductor and Fiber Lasers, by Prof. Niloy Dutta, and The Music of Physics: An Introduction to the Harmonies of Nature, by Prof. George Gibson.

Our alumni have also been active. Prof. Manasse Mbonye (Ph.D. 1995) gave a commencement address and received an honorary degree from UConn for his profound contributions to rebuilding the university system of Rwanda. We are lucky to have Manasse come for an extended visit this fall, hosted by Prof. Gerald Dunne. Prof. Ron Mallett was featured in yet another article on time travel, this time in earth.com. Prof. Kyungseon Joo co-organized a workshop on Quantum Information Science with our former Prof. Robin Cote and a second workshop is being planned.

As usual, we gave out two honors to our undergraduate students. Our Katzenstein Prize for the best undergraduate research thesis went to Thomas Tarutin, supervised by Prof. Asli Tandoğan. Our Mark Miller Award for best research proposal went to Ayssar Farah, supervised by Prof. Gerald Dunne. The undergrads also had a busy travel schedule with Grace Gardella spending the summer at Brookhaven National Lab and Michael Frank and Owen Finch went to the Research Center for Nuclear Physics in Japan.

Our graduate students also did well: Provakar Datta won this year’s JSA/Jefferson Lab Thesis Prize, supervised by Prof. Andrew Puckett. Gursimran Kainth spent the summer at CERN, and Alessio Illari went to Los Alamos National Lab. Our students (undergrad and grad) showed up in various press releases representing the excellent research done in the department, including Noah Frese, Cameron Brady, Clark Bray, Bochao Xu, Brenna Petrelli, Danya Alboslani, and Logan Fries.

This past January, we hosted the Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics, sponsored by the American Physical Society and organized by Prof. Nora Berrah. Over 100 students were in attendance, making the conference a big success. Renovations of the UConn Planetarium were completed under the supervision of Prof. Matt Guthrie and we are now hosting regular shows at the planetarium and night viewing sessions at the recently renovated observatory. Responding to the budget situation at UConn, we expanded our summer online offering with a new course created by Prof. Diego Valente and Prof. Belter Ordaz. The course filled up the first day of registration and a second session was added, which also filled up.

Due to the fiscal uncertainties at the university, our special lectures are being postponed until the spring semester. Please look forward to future announcements.

Sincerely,

George Gibson
Department Head, Physics

In Memoriam: Professor Winthrop Smith, 1936-2025

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Sadly, Prof. Emeritus Winthrop W. Smith passed away in Peabody, MA on April 7, 2025, with his devoted daughter Sarah by his side. After growing up in New Jersey, Win received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics from Amherst and MIT, respectively, and then undertook postdoctoral work at the Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) in Boulder, Colorado, where he met his late wife Anne. He began his academic journey at Columbia University, in New York City, eventually transitioning to the University of Connecticut, where he spent a long and illustrious career teaching and performing research in physics, officially retiring in 2009.

Win SmithWin’s research was primarily in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics. The systems he studied covered a diverse range, including: electrons; ions (both positive and negative); atoms; molecules; and photons. They also spanned a wide spectrum of energies, from relativistic to ultracold. His experiments employed a variety of tools, such as lasers, spectrometers, particle beams, accelerators, and traps for atoms and ions. Win investigated many interesting topics, including: charge-exchange collisions; highly-charged ions; molecular spectroscopy; collision-induced x-ray emission; relativistic negative ion beams; atom interferometry; linear rf traps for ions; and nonlinear dynamics (chaos). He was very productive, with his work resulting in over 100 journal publications. His latest research, performed mainly after officially retiring, involved interactions between overlapping samples of trapped ions and ultracold neutral atoms, and garnered significant attention.

Over the years, Win taught and trained a large number of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers, and was a valued mentor to younger faculty. In terms of classroom teaching, Win’s portfolio encompassed multiple areas of physics: classical mechanics; electricity & magnetism; quantum mechanics; atomic physics; optics; lasers; electronics; and introductory physics for various audiences. He took great pleasure in motivating his students and seeing them learn.

Win was heavily involved in the American Physical Society (APS), serving as an officer in the New England Section (NES), the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP), and the Division of Laser Science (DLS). He also played a key role in organizing several large physics conferences in Storrs: DAMOP Annual Meetings in 1984 and 2000; and the International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP) in 2008. Win spent a year as a Program Officer for the National Science Foundation, helping set funding priorities for AMO Physics. He also performed significant service for the Department and University, serving in the University Senate, as President of the UConn Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and as a member and chair of many committees.

Win enjoyed traveling and collaborating with colleagues and thereby embarked on several sabbaticals: JILA, Stanford, Munich, Aarhus, MIT, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He also worked with colleagues at various national labs: Los Alamos in New Mexico, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, Lawrence Livermore in California, and the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.

Win’s accomplishments earned him several honors. He received Fellowship in the American Physical Society, an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Research Award to work in Germany, and Membership in the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.

Interestingly, his great-uncle, Percy Bridgman, a professor at Harvard, won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in high-pressure physics, leaving a strong impression on the young Win.

Win had many outside interests including: music, singing in the Hartford Chorale and the UConn Festival Chorus; and hiking and skiing in the White Mountains near Randolph, New Hampshire. He was passionately interested in politics, serving locally on the Mansfield Town Ethics Board and Democratic Town Committee.

Win will be greatly missed, and fondly remembered, by the Physics Department. In his memory, donations can be made to the Anne and Win Smith Fellowship Fund for support of graduate students in physics, or the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

An article in Earth.com describes the research and the life story of Prof. Mallett

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A recently published article describes the research and the life story of Prof. Mallett.

“Now approaching 80, Dr. Mallett remains steadfast. “I believe my work will show time travel is possible,” he asserts. “Future generations will build on it in ways we can’t yet imagine.”

His equations, though yet to physically bend time, have bent our collective imagination. Ongoing public interest, evidenced by his continued media appearances and Spike Lee’s film adaptation of his memoir, underscores his ideas’ profound impact.

More than a scientific pursuit, Mallett’s story testifies to human resilience, intellectual courage, and hope’s enduring power. Whether his theoretical time machine ever materializes, his legacy is immeasurable—inspiring countless individuals to challenge conventional limits and perceive time not as an unyielding barrier, but as a boundless frontier awaiting exploration.”