News

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

Students Present Posters at 2025 Spring Undergraduate Research Festival

Thursday, May 1, 2025
Three Physics and Astronomy students presented posters at the Spring Undergraduate Research Festival (SURF) on April 3 at the University Capitol Centre.
Graduating_Seniors_Group

2025 Awards Colloquium Held April 29

Wednesday, April 30, 2025
The Department of Physics and Astronomy honored several students, faculty, and staff for their achievements on April 29 at the 2025 Awards Colloquium.
Arissa Khan

Meet Arissa Khan: Undergraduate Student Researcher

In this story from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arissa Khan tells about her work as an undergraduate student researcher on the Observing Cusp High-altitude Reconnection and Electrodynamics (OCHRE) Mission.
Artist's conception of the complex magnetic field environment at Mars

Iowa physicists study how Mars became a cold planet

University of Iowa physicists have detailed interactions between magnetic field lines of the sun and Mars that may help explain how Mars turned from a warm, hospitable planet into a dry, cold, and hostile environment. Using orbital observations and evidence obtained from NASA rovers on the red planet’s surface, scientists know that billions of years ago Mars was much wetter and warmer, with a thicker atmosphere.
TRACERS mission patch with star background

TRACERS: From Iowa to Space—Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sun and Earth

Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Join us April 23 at 5 pm CDT for this virtual webinar about TRACERS, a cutting-edge NASA satellite mission led by the University of Iowa. TRACERS will study the magnetic interactions between the sun and Earth, helping to unlock the mysteries of space weather.

Martin Named Outstanding Teaching Assistant

Thursday, April 17, 2025
Graduate student Brady Martin was named a recipient of the 2024-25 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. The Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award recognizes teaching assistants who have demonstrated outstanding abilities at the University of Iowa.
Arissa Khan

CLAS students win first place in Upper Midwest Regional Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competition

Thursday, March 27, 2025
The recently formed University of Iowa Ethics Bowl team, led by second-year physics and chemistry student Arissa Khan, bested 20 competing teams in the Midwest.
Yuanzheng Wen at AGU24

Wen Honored for Presentation at AGU24

Thursday, March 20, 2025
Yuanzheng Wen, a graduate research assistant in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, received an Outstanding Student Presentation Award for his talk at the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting Dec. 9-13, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Saturn, its rings, and four of its icy satellites (moons)

Space Scientists Discover 128 New Moons Orbiting Saturn

Tuesday, March 18, 2025
In this Radio Iowa interview, Prof. Allison Jaynes discusses the discovery of 128 more moons orbiting Saturn, for a total of 274, far more than its larger neighbor Jupiter, with just 95 moons. Jaynes says she’s betting Saturn has still more moons that we haven’t spotted yet.