News
School of Physics and Astronomy
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June 28, 2022
College of Science Dean Sophia Maggelakis to become provost of Wentworth Institute of Technology
Dean Sophia Maggelakis will be leaving RIT to become the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Maggelakis joined RIT as an assistant professor in 1990, became head of the School of Mathematical Sciences in 2001, and became dean of the College of Science in 2010.
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June 6, 2022
RIT professor earns NASA grant to study baby stars and newborn planets closest to Earth
A team of RIT scientists is poring over NASA data for new insights about Earth’s youngest, closest neighbors. Joel Kastner, a professor in RIT’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science and School of Physics and Astronomy, received nearly $400,000 for a NASA archival study to advance our understanding of newly formed stars and planets.
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May 23, 2022
RIT student Olivia Young receives prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Astrophysical sciences and technology Ph.D. student Olivia Young earned a competitive fellowship from the National Science Foundation to develop machine learning algorithms that will help scientists use radio telescopes to study transient objects such as pulsars and fast radio bursts.
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May 19, 2022
RIT offers new minor in emerging field of quantum information science and technology
RIT students can soon begin earning a minor in an emerging field that could disrupt the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. RIT students can now take classes toward a minor in quantum information science and technology.
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May 16, 2022
Ben Zwickl to spend fall in Oslo studying physics students’ computational literacy and career interests
Associate Professor Ben Zwickl will head to the University of Oslo this fall to research what he calls one of the most understudied aspects of the undergraduate physics curriculum.
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May 9, 2022
Rochester community invited to observe total lunar eclipse at RIT Observatory on May 15
RIT is inviting the community to come watch the moon as it tries to hide in the Earth’s shadow. The RIT Observatory will host an open house from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on May 15 that is free and open to the public.
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March 30, 2022
RIT graduate programs rank among best in nation in ‘U.S. News & World Report’ survey
RIT graduate degree programs in engineering, science, and business were featured in the U.S. News & World Report 2023 edition of Best Graduate Schools, released in March.
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March 24, 2022
College of Health Sciences and Technology and RIT baseball partnership creates biomechanics lab
Students and faculty from the exercise science program are using high-speed cameras, motion capture technology, and other sensors to analyze the motions of RIT baseball players as they swing the bat.
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March 22, 2022
The universe’s background starlight is twice as bright as expected
ScienceNews talks to Michael Zemcov, associate professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, about discrepancies in extragalactic background light.
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February 26, 2022
Major James Webb Space Telescope project will map half a million early galaxies
Space.com features Jeyhan Kartaltepe, assistant professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy.
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February 25, 2022
RIT astrophysicist awarded research leave to study gravitational waves as a Simons Fellow
Richard O’Shaughnessy, an associate professor in RIT’s School of Mathematical Sciences, was awarded a prestigious fellowship to spend the next year preparing for an “onslaught” of gravitational wave discoveries. He is one of 10 faculty worldwide named 2022 Simons Fellows in Theoretical Physics and is the first RIT faculty member to receive the award.
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February 14, 2022
RIT scientists develop biophysical model to help better diagnose and treat osteoarthritis
Scientists from RIT and Cornell University have teamed up to explore cartilage tissue’s unique properties with the hopes of improving osteoarthritis diagnosis and treatment. The team published a new paper in Science Advances outlining their findings.