2021 News

Tai Wai Hu awarded Goldwater Scholarship

March 26, 2021

We are pleased to announce that for the 12th year in a row (and in 14 of the last 16 years) a Physics & Astronomy major
was been awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship.

This year's winner is Tai Wai Hu. Tai Wai is working with Professor Eva Halkiadakis in experimental high energy physics.

Congratulations to Tai Wai!

The Goldwater Scholarship is awarded to 410 students nationwide each year, to student in mathematics,
computer science, engineering, and the natural sciences. Rutgers has two Goldwater winners this year, with Jacqueline Mehr, from Life Sciences, joining Tai Wai. Congratulations to them both.

Matt Buckley Promoted

Apr 15, 2021

At its meeting on Wednesday April 14, 2021, the Board of Governors approved the promotion of our colleague Matt Buckley to Associate Professor with tenure.

The promotion is effective July 1, 2021.

Please join us in congratulating Matt on his well-deserved promotion.

 

Buckley

Kristy McQuinn interviewed about James Webb Space Telescope

Apr 15, 2021

Our colleague Kristy McQuinn was interviewed by WMBC-TV about the new frontiers in astrophysics that she and her colleagues will be exploring upon the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

 

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Andy Mastbaum receives 2021 NSF CAREER Award

Mar 3, 2021

We are very happy to announce that Andy Mastbaum of the HEX group has received a prestigious NSF CAREER Award. The NSF CAREER Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

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Kristy McQuinn and Alyson Brooks on Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science Team

Feb 26, 2021

Kristy McQuinn and Alyson Brooks are on one of only 13 "Early Release Science" teams, chosen world-wide, for the soon-to-be-launched (10/31/2021) Webb Space Telescope.  These teams, chosen via a highly competitive process, will be among the first users of the WST.  Kristy is scientific leader and Alyson collaborator on the team selected to study resolved starts in nearby galaxies.

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Blakesley Burkhart and Jed Pixley named Sloan Fellows

Feb 17, 2021

Blakesley Burkhart and Jed Pixley were named 2021 Alfred P. Sloan Fellows. Blakesley and Jed are Rutgers’ only Sloan Fellows this year.

Nationally each year over 1000 researchers across eight scholarly areas are nominated for Sloan Fellowships, with only 128 fellowships awarded, so Blakesley and Jed are indeed in rare company.

No institution had more than 2 Physics awardees this year. Rutgers is tied with Harvard, UT Austin, and U Penn.   No other physics department has more than one.

Blakesley and Jed join current and former colleagues Jacqui Noronha-Hostler, Alyson Brooks, JP Chou, David Shih, Kristjan Haule, Emil Yuzbashyan, Alex Morozov, and Valery Kiryukhin, making it ten young faculty members who have won Sloan Fellowships in our Department since 2001.

 

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Hughes elected Fellow of AAS

Feb 2, 2021

Distinguished Professor Jack Hughes, has been elected a 2021 Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.  Jack has the distinction of being in the first class of annually elected Fellows of the AAS.  AAS Fellows are recognized for their contributions toward the Society's mission of enhancing and sharing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.

Jack’s citation reads: “For outstanding accomplishments in X-ray astronomy, including critical contributions to the development of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.”

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