News

Faculty and Staff: Submit grant awards, honors, research publications, accepted talks, and other news items through the faculty and staff news form.
UI Pres Barbara Wilson and Kathy Kurth

Kathy Kurth Awarded Hancher-Finkbine Staff Medallion

Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Kathy Kurth has been awarded the 2022 Hancher-Finkbine Staff Medallion, one of the most prestigious honors given at the University of Iowa.

Staff Honored at CLAS Recognition Celebration

Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Six staff members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy were honored on April 7 at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ 21st Annual Staff Recognition Celebration in the Iowa Memorial Union.
Greg Howes horiz

Howes Wins Scholar of the Year Award from OVPR

Thursday, March 31, 2022
The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) at the University of Iowa has selected associate professor Gregory Howes as a Scholar of the Year as part of its annual Discovery and Innovation awards program. 

Gross To Receive Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

Tuesday, March 29, 2022
The University of Iowa Council on Teaching has selected Arran Gross to receive the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.
Thomas Folland lab

Research Team Finds Potential New Method to Control Light

Assistant Professor Tom Folland is part of an international research team that has discovered a potential new method for controlling light.
reiner_gamma

Halekas Awarded Grant to Investigate Lunar Magnetic Anomaly

Friday, March 18, 2022
Associate Professor Jasper Halekas recently received a grant award to investigate the environment in Reiner Gamma, a strongly magnetized region of the surface of the Moon.   NASA, via the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), awarded Halekas $160,433 for the investigation, “Lunar Vertex: Exploring the Intersection of Geoscience and Space Plasma Physics.”  Halekas is the deputy principal investigator for the investigation.  
MAGIC_Patch

Successful NASA Confirmation Review for MAGIC

Friday, March 11, 2022
The MAGnetometers for Innovation and Capability (MAGIC) Technology Demonstration on the TRACERS SMEX satellite mission passed its confirmation review at NASA on March 8.  Dr. Nicola Fox, Heliophysics Division Director, approved MAGIC to formally proceed into the implementation phase, which means the MAGIC team can start flight build.

Pres. Wilson Visits Van Allen Hall

Friday, March 11, 2022
The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted President Barbara Wilson on March 9 with a tour of Van Allen Hall to highlight all the fantastic work being done by faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students.
LAMP mission aurora snip 2

University of Iowa, NASA, successfully launch rocket to study aurora

CBS 2/Iowa's News Now: University of Iowa scientists are back home after a weeks-long trip to Alaska to study the aurora borealis.
LAMP rocket

NASA Sounding Rocket Launches into Aurora

The LAMP mission, short for Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations, launched on Saturday, Mar. 5, 2022, on a Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket.