Applications for the Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) Graduate Fellowship Program are now open. The program is designed to support outstanding graduate students pursuing NASA-aligned research opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa has appointed David Miles as the F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Assistant Research Scientist/Engineer David Hartley a $345,680 grant to study how two types of plasma waves, called chorus and hiss, impact the Earth's radiation belts.

A University of Iowa quantum optics physicist has been awarded funding from the United States Air Force to advance how information is transmitted securely at the quantum level. Ravitej Uppu, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, will use the award through the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research to investigate how to harness optical losses for fiber optical quantum communication.

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.

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.