Professor John Prineas has been named a member of the National Academy of Inventors and was elected to join the University of Iowa chapter. He is being recognized for his work developing patents in semi-conductor and materials physics.

Assistant Professor Casey DeRoo has received the Collegiate Teaching Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at the University of Iowa. Collegiate Teaching Awards are given each year to faculty who demonstrate outstanding performance in the classroom, laboratory, or studio.

Faculty members Keri Hoadley and Casey DeRoo were at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory last week for the UV Science and Instrumentation Workshop, which aims to define the technology and science for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a future NASA flagship mission. Outside the public auditorium, JPL has an engineering model of Explorer 1 which has been restored and mounted on a mock-up of the rocket that delivered it into orbit. It was a great opportunity to have University of Iowa faculty visit our legacy of Explorer 1 while “on the job” for their current research!

Several students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy were candidates for degrees at the University of Iowa Spring Commencement Ceremonies on May 9, 10 and 11, 2024.

Professor Jun Wang and Aerospace Principal Engineer Richard Dvorsky were among others recognized at the Faculty & Staff Awards Ceremony held on April 30, 2024, at Hancher Auditorium.

Voyager was operational again after receiving history’s most impressive and long-distance software patch. After falling silent in November, the Voyager spacecraft is operational again after receiving history’s most impressive and long-distance software patch. Bill Kurth, Research Scientist at the University of Iowa who has been a member of the Voyager science team since 1974, said “We were all ecstatic to re-establish two-way communications with Voyager 1.”

Dr. Bill Kurth, a research scientist in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Iowa is delighted NASA engineers were able to reestablish communication with the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which has flown further into space than any human-made object.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy honored several students, faculty, and staff for their achievements on April 23 at the 2024 Awards Colloquium.

Graduate Student Sarah Choate has been awarded $12,000 from the Universities Research Association's (URA) Visiting Scholars Program (VSP) to support work on “Study of the Neutrino Magnetic Moment with the NOvA Near Detector.”

Prof. Wayne Polyzou presented at STEAM Day, April 19, 2024 at Prairie Ridge Elementary School in Cedar Rapids.