Congratulations to our students who were candidates for degrees at the University of Iowa Spring Commencement Ceremonies on May 12 and 13, 2023! 

Andrea Shaevitz, a senior financial analyst in Physics and Astronomy, will receive the Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence Award at the 2023 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Staff Recognition Reception on June 15. This award recognizes staff members in CLAS who have performed exceptional service to their department or the College.

For an outreach event, Prof. Wayne Polyzou presented at STEAM Day, April 21, 2023, at Prairie Ridge Elementary School in Cedar Rapids.

The Iowa Science Academy (ISA) has awarded Physics and Astronomy Graduate Student Jacob Payne a Community Engagement Graduate Assistantship for 2023-2024.

Associate Professor Allison Jaynes is among University of Iowa faculty members who have been selected as recipients of the Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Awards for 2023.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy honored several students, faculty, and staff for their achievements on April 25 at the 2023 Awards Colloquium.

Assistant Professor Thomas Folland has been awarded a grant from the Office of Naval Research’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI). The five-year grant, which provides up to $1.5 million in funding annually, is led by Josh Caldwell at Vanderbilt University, and will be shared with the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. The work proposes to study twist optics to better predict emergent properties created by stacking and misorienting various two-dimensional materials.

The University of Iowa received approval from the Board of Regents facilities committee to move ahead with a plan to remodel the seventh floor of the Van Allen Hall.

Cornelia Lang, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences associate dean for undergraduate education and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been appointed to lead a prominent National Science Foundation committee. Lang currently serves as chair of the NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee (MPSAC).