Headlines

Reports on recent events within the larger scientific world, with a member of the department explaining the science and commenting on its significance.

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.

Grad Student Kelcey Davis featured in UConn Today

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UConn Physics PhD student Kelcey Davis was featured in a UConn Today article to highlight a new experiment she was awarded on the James Webb Space Telescope. Kelcey’s research focuses on distant galaxies and black holes, and her new space telescope observations will offer a rich new view of the detailed physics of the first galaxies and their black holes in the early universe. For the full story, see the article in UConn Today.

Research of Professor Simone Colombo featured in UConn Today

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When gases are cooled to temperatures approaching absolute zero, their atoms reach their lowest energy state, creating what is known as a quantum degenerate state. These gases are of interest for quantum sensors because they exhibit higher sensitivity to electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields compared to atoms at higher temperatures.

Researchers are developing quantum sensors that can measure gravitational acceleration with applications for geological surveying and space exploration, navigation in environments where GPS is unavailable, such as underwater or in remote terrestrial regions, as well as quantum computing. All of these applications could benefit from incorporation of quantum degenerate gases.

A significant challenge in utilizing quantum degenerate gases is that they are typically produced in discrete batches and are consumed or altered during the measurement process. This characteristic limits the ability to conduct studies that require high-frequency repetition for data validation.

Prof. Colombo has been awarded a $607,000 research grant from the Department of Defense to study more efficient methods for cooling atoms into a quantum degenerate state. The project focuses on a new preparation technique intended to reduce the time required to reach this state by approximately two orders of magnitude. This research seeks to address the current limitations regarding the speed and repetition of quantum gas production.

For more information about the research, check UConn Today article at Colder than Ice: Developing an Improved Quantum Degenerate Cooling Method – UConn Today

Professor Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer

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The University of Connecticut, Department of Physics, is proud to announce the 27th Annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer on Friday, January 30th , 2026 by Professor Pablo Jarillo-Herrero.

Pablo Jarillo-Herrero is a Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He received his “Licenciatura” in physics from the University of Valencia, Spain, in 1999, M.Sc. degree at the University of California in San Diego, in 2001 and Ph.D. at the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands in 2005. His research involves studying the properties of two-dimensional (one atom-thick) materials with special emphasis on investigating their superconducting, magnetic, and topological properties. The discovery of superconductivity in twisted bilayers of graphene by his group in 2018 has been recognized as the Breakthrough of the Year by the Physics World magazine.

Prof. Jarillo-Herrero is the recipient of the APS 2020 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize and the 2020 Wolf Prize in Physics for his research on twisted bilayer graphene. Many groups all over the world have adopted Prof. Jarillo-Herrero’s approach and ideas to discover numerous previously unknown phases of matter in twisted multilayers of graphene and other two-dimensional materials, launching the rapidly growing field of “twistronics”. His accomplishments have been recognized with a number of other awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2012, the 2021 Lise Meitner Distinguished Lecture and Medal, the 2021 Max Planck Humboldt Research Award, and the 2021 US National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery.

For more 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