Articles from March 2026

Faculty and Staff: Submit grant awards, honors, research publications, accepted talks, and other news items through the faculty and staff news form.

Incoming! 1,300-pound NASA satellite will crash to Earth on March 10

A big NASA satellite will crash back to Earth on Tuesday (March 10) after nearly 14 years in orbit, experts say. The spacecraft in question is the 1,323-pound (600-kilogram) Van Allen Probe A, which launched in August 2012 along with its twin, Van Allen Probe B, to study the radiation belts around Earth for which they're named.

DeRoo Receives Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award

Associate Professor Casey DeRoo has been selected as a recipient of the Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award for 2026. The award, which is in its fifth year, provides funding and development opportunities for a cohort of tenured mid-career faculty who have established national or international reputations in their disciplines and demonstrate exceptional teaching and mentorship.

Acevedo Poster Contest held Feb. 27

Monday, March 2, 2026
The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted the third annual Acevedo Poster Contest on Feb. 27, giving participating students a chance to show how they used computing resources, tools, or techniques in their research.