News

NOvA study sets tighter limit on sterile neutrinos

Neutrinos have always been difficult to study because their small mass and neutral charge make them especially elusive. Scientists have made a lot of headway in the field and can now detect three flavors, or …

Highlights from APS DPP

Physics Faculty Attend Major Plasma Physics Conference in Atlanta By Christopher Woolford, Physics PhD student Over 200 faculty and students represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison at the annual American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics …

Probing the connection between the highest-energy astrophysical neutrinos and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

Welcome, Prof. Jakob Moritz!

String theorist Jakob Moritz joined the faculty as an assistant professor of physics on January 1, 2025. He joins us from CERN where he has been a postdoc for just over a year. Previously, he …

Baha Balantekin honored at neutrino astrophysics workshop

The illustrious career of Baha Balantekin, the Eugene P. Wigner professor of physics at UW–Madison, was celebrated recently at the Neutrinos in Physics and Astrophysics Workshop through the Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries …

Dan McCammon awarded Distinguished Career Prize

Congrats to Prof. Dan McCammon for earning the Distinguished Career Award from The American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) for his pioneering work on the development of microcalorimeters that has led to …

UW physicists use Purdue supercomputer to challenge traditional turbulence theory for space and climate modeling

Qolab, the first UW–Madison-incubated quantum startup, joins the Chicago Quantum Exchange

Physics major Caleb Youngwerth wins poster prize at APS Eastern Great Lakes meeting

Congrats to physics, astronomy-physics, mathematics and french major Caleb Youngwerth on winning the Meeting Award for Undergraduate Student Poster at the Fall 2024 meeting of the Eastern Great Lakes Section of APS! Youngwerth’s poster, entitled, …

Physics awarded need-based graduate fellowships by U.S. Department of Education

This fall, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the UW–Madison department of physics with Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships. These fellowships will assist graduate students with strong academic records who demonstrate …

Physics participates in U.S. Cyber Command visit to campus

Welcome, Prof. Melinda Soares-Furtado!

Melinda Soares-Furtado, an observational astronomer, joined the UW–Madison faculty this fall on a joint appointment in the astronomy and physics departments. She earned her undergrad degree at UC-Santa Cruz, then her doctorate in astrophysical sciences …

Welcome, Prof. Britton Plourde!

Condensed matter experimentalist Britton Plourde received his bachelor’s in physics and music performance from the University of Michigan. He then went to grad school at UIUC, earning a PhD in physics and a master’s in music …

UW–Madison joins new NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky

This post is modified from the original news story from Northwestern University A large multi-institutional collaboration— led by Northwestern University and including UW–Madison physics professors Keith Bechtol, Kyle Cranmer, and Moritz Münchmeyer — has received a …

HAWC detection of an ultra-high-energy gamma-ray bubble around a microquasar

Welcome, Professor Ben Woods!

Condensed matter theorist Ben Woods joined the department as an assistant professor this fall. Originally from a small town in North Dakota, Woods studied physics at the University of North Dakota and earned a PhD in …

Baha Balantekin wins 2025 APS Bethe Prize

Congrats to Prof. Baha Balantekin on winning the American Physical Society’s 2025 Hans A. Bethe prize! The Bethe prize is awarded to recognize outstanding work in theory, experiment or observation in the areas of astrophysics, …

Britton Plourde elected Fellow of the American Physical Society

Congratulations to Prof. Britton Plourde for being elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society! Plourde was elected “For important contributions to the physics and operation of superconducting qubits, including the development of techniques for …

UW-Madison, Japan’s National Institute for Fusion Science strengthen research partnership

Welcome, Prof. Elio König!

This fall, condensed matter theorist Elio König returned to Madison as an assistant professor of physics. König began his education in Germany and Italy, earning a PhD from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2014. …