2026 News
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero Presents 2026 Irons Lecture on Magic Angle Graphene
(April 28, 2026)
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Professor of Physics at MIT, and the 2026 Irons Lecturer gave a masterful public talk on "Magic Angle Graphene: the Twist and Shout of Quantium Materials."
He got us to imagine taking the simplest ingredient—carbon—and thinning it down until it’s only one atom thick. This creates graphene, a "wonder material" that has spent the last 20 years revolutionizing everything from electronics to basic physics.
Prof. Jed Pixley Wins 2025-2026 Year-End Presidential Award
(April 22, 2026)
Jed Pixley has won the 2025-2026 Presidential Outstanding Faculty Scholar Award in recogition of his outstanding teaching and scholarly accomplishments during his years at Rutgers. This award is one of the highest honors the University has to bestow, and highlights individuals with exceptional academic portfolios and significant impact on the Rutgers community.
Join us in offering congratulations to Jed for this well-deserved recognition!
- Profile(s): Pixley, Jedediah H.
Prof. David Shih Writes Research Paper with Claude AI
(April 6, 2026)
Prof David Shih's recent project using AI was featured in an Apr 6 Rutgers Today article:
https://www.rutgers.edu/news/when-your-research-partner-actually-artificial-intelligence
The article titled "When Your Research Partner Is Actually Artificial Intelligence" describes David's use of Claude Code, an agentic AI system, to help simplify complex mathematical ezpressions. David (and Claude) demonstrated their approach on two problems in high-energy physics and found that their machine learning (ML) method produced results that were far superior to previous ML-based methods.
David, a member of the Physics and Astronomy department and the Director of the NHETC, realizes that research in physics as well as other fields will be changed by the ever advancing AI systems becoming available and is working to train his junior colleagues to work with these useful tools.
- Profile(s): Shih, David
Keshav Badri wins a 2026 Goldwater Scholarship!
(Mar 27, 2026)
Please join us in congratulating Keshav Badri of Physics and Astronomy, who just won a 2026 Goldwater Scholarship. Well done Keshav! And congratulations also to mentors Jed Pixley, Kevin Lucht, and Shaowen Chen.
Work in theoretical Condensed Matter Physics at the national lab or university level. Specialize in understanding emergent phenomena within thin films and heterostructures.
Dr. Jedediah Pixley, Mr. Kevin Lucht, Dr. Shaowen Chen
- Profile(s): Chen, Shaowen, Lucht, Kevin, Pixley, Jedediah H.
Shumaila Chishti wins the 2026 Provost Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer
(Mar 13, 2026)
Recently we learned that Dr. Shumaila Chishti has been awarded the 2026 Provost Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer!
Please join me us congratulating Shumaila for this well deserved honor.
Shumaila has been a Lecturer in our department for 13 years. In that time she has demonstrated a remarkable ability to teach General Physics with rigor, clarity, warmth, and openness. She is a leader and innovator in instruction and pedagogy, as evidenced by her key role in advancing the Active Learning Workshop model within Extended General Physics recitations, which has helped to shift instruction toward greater student engagement and conceptual understanding. She has made significant contributions to the department’s online and hybrid instruction. Beyond the classroom, Shumaila is deeply invested in mentoring new instructors and Learning Assistants, sharing her pedagogical expertise to promote consistency and excellence across the General Physics teaching staff. For these and other accomplishments, Shumaila Chishti has made a lasting impact on undergraduate physics education at Rutgers University. And we look forward to her future accomplishments!
- Profile(s): Chishti, Shumaila F.
Matt Buckley wins Provost Award for Excellence in Cross-Disciplinary Research
(Mar 6, 2026)
Prof. Matt Buckley has won the Provost Award for Excellence in Cross-Disciplinary Research.
Matt is a world-class theorist working at the interface between physics and astronomy on studies of dark matter. He works on the properties of dark matter in our galaxy as well as other nearby galaxies. This has positioned him to begin constraining the behavior of dark matter at the level of individual particles and thereby help elucidate its fundamental nature.
- Profile(s): Buckley, Matthew
Prof Jed Pixley selected as 2026 Student Success Champion Award Recipient
(Feb 20, 2026)
The 2026 Rutgers Student Success Conference Committee has selected Prof Jed Pixley as a faculty recipient of the Student Success Champion Award.
This award recognizes exceptional contributions to student success at Rutgers–New Brunswick and reflects the priorities of the Academic Master Plan. The work faculty do—whether creating high‑impact learning experiences, supporting timely graduation, reducing student debt, or enhancing student well‑being—makes a meaningful and lasting difference.
Please join us in congratulating Jed on his extraordinary efforts on behalf of student success that this award acknowledges.
- Profile(s): Pixley, Jedediah H.