Physics and Astronomy

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has appointed Allison Jaynes as the F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor. 

As part of his work in high-energy particle physics, Prof. Yasar Onel has invented a scintillator that would be used in an ultra-fast radiation treatment for cancer.

Onel and his High Energy Physics group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy are working on developing a fast dose monitoring system using their recently patented radiation hard scintillator, and Large Hadron Collider technology. They are working with the University of Iowa Department of Radiation Oncology in the Carver College of Medicine on the “Midwest FLASH Lab: Developing Next-Generation Radiotherapy Delivery and Expertise at the UI” project.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted the Space Physics and Astronomy Research Kamp (SPARK) May 20 at  Van Allen Hall. Twelve Iowa City-area high school students attended SPARK, which focused on astronomy, astrophysics, space physics, and promoted the STEM field toward typically underrepresented groups.