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The Division of Physical Sciences is committed to sharing information about its administration, academics, outreach and research—from people to their changemaking activities—with a full-service news and multimedia team. From writing stories and media training, to coordinating press interviews and posting social media news, we cover the physical sciences around the clock, year-round.

	Ammonium Nitrate: What Is It and Where Is It Stored in San Diego County? Chemistry Professor Brian Leigh provides information about ammonium nitrate to NBC7 Reporter Alexis Rivas.
	New Science Behind Algae-based Flip-flops Chemistry and Biochemistry’s Michael Burkart and Skip Pomeroy help create biodegradable shoes that meet commercial standards.
	UC San Diego Forging a Sustainable Future with Renewable Products Cutting-edge science and new center for biodegradable goods target environmental scourge of plastic waste.
	Scientists Find First Evidence for the Higgs Boson Interaction with Muons Professor of Physics Vivek Sharma guided the discovery of the Higgs boson eight years ago. Now, he and his team have made another breakthrough discovery.
	Scientists Explore Signals for a Quantum Universe UC San Diego’s Daniel Green set out to find a signal for the quantum origin of structure by applying theoretical techniques used to understand the way particles scatter in colliders.
	Two UC San Diego Chemists Named Finalists for the World’s Top Ph.D. Prize UC San Diego’s Ahanjit Bhattacharya and Johannes Karges are among this year’s 45 finalists for the Reaxys Ph.D. Prize—a global competition open to any individual who is earning or has recently completed a Ph.D. in any discipline of chemistry or related field of science.
	Chemists, Physicists Create Spongy Droplets to Mimic Cellular Organelles With a bottom-up approach to synthetic biology, UC San Diego Chemist Neal Devaraj, Physicist Sunil Sinha and a team of researchers showed that the lipid sponge droplets can be programmed to function like cellular organelles.
	Mathematician, Engineer receive Newton Award for Transformative Ideas during COVID-19 Pandemic UC San Diego’s Melvin Leok and Boris Kramer earn DOD funding for research that could revolutionize both civilian and military science.
	Band of Astronomers Finds Low Heavy Metal in Brown Dwarf Discoveries Astronomers in UC San Diego’s Cool Star Lab worked with a larger team of scientists and citizen scientists on the discovery of two unusual brown dwarfs that could be part of an ancient population of celestial objects formed early in the history of the Milky Way.
	Tribute to the ‘Mathemagican’ Ron Graham, professor emeritus of computer science and mathematics, whose career of 60 years included the discovery of Graham’s number, leadership roles in U.S. mathematical associations, and expertise in juggling and mathematical-based card tricks, has died. He was 84.
	$18M Boost to Materials Science Research at UC San Diego The National Science Foundation has awarded University of California San Diego researchers a six-year, $18 million grant to fund a new Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). Chemistry and Biochemistry’s Michael Sailor and Stacey Bridges are among the new center’s leaders.
	UC San Diego Physicist Making a Mark Physicist Javier Duarte is one of 76 scientists selected nationwide to receive research support from the DOE’s Office of Science’s Early Career Research Program. His proposed research project titled “Real-Time Artificial Intelligence for Particle Reconstruction and Higgs Physics” aims to develop a real-time system to reconstruct particles originating from the Large Hadron Collider’s proton collisions using artificial intelligence (AI).
	Reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Kim Prather, distinguished chair in atmospheric chemistry in the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry and at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and director of the NSF’s CAICE, took the lead on a perspective piece published June 26, 2020, in the journal Science. The article addresses how the spread of COVID-19 appears to be occurring through airborne transmission of aerosols.
	Coronavirus Is Covered In Sugar Shield, UCSD Scientists Figured Out What It Looks Like Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Rommie Amaro was interviewed by KPBS Science Reporter Shalina Chatlani about her breakthrough research revealing the atomic structure of the coronavirus’ sugary shield.
	From Prison to Physics: ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ It took a punch and a trigger to land Sean Bearden in prison in 2005. It took a mentor named Ms. Rose, armed with a Dr. Seuss book, to set him on his journey to where he’s at in 2020—a scholar of physics who was just awarded a 2020-21 President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship at the University of California San Diego.
	Using Artificial Intelligence to ‘Paint’ the Holographic Universe Physicists Yi-Zhuang You and Hong-Ye Hu find the holographic duality between a boundary quantum theory and a bulk gravity theory with the help of a new machine-learning algorithm.
	To Wear a Mask or Not, Is Not the Question; Research Indicates It’s the Answer UC San Diego Nobel Laureate Mario Molina plays a key role in a new study that shows the coronavirus spreads mainly through airborne transmission and that wearing a face mask is the most effective way to prevent new infections.
	Sugar-Coating Disguise Allows for Coronavirus Infection The coronavirus wraps itself in a sugary cloak made up of molecules called glycans in order to trick the human immune system into identifying it as being harmless, according to new research by biochemist Rommie Amaro and colleagues.
	Dark Matter Scientists Surprised by Observation of ‘Excess of Events’ The international XENON collaboration, including physics professor Kaixuan Ni, announced today that data from its XENON1T—the world's most sensitive dark matter experiment—show a surprising excess of events. Admittedly, the scientists don’t fully understand what they observed, but they have some ideas.
	UC San Diego Professor Named 2020 Blavatnik National Awards Finalist in Chemistry The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s Joel Yuen-Zhou is among this year’s 31 finalists for the prestigious Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.
	Direct Proof of Dark Matter May Lurk at Low-Energy Frontiers Physicist Tongyan Lin helped calculate how likely low-mass dark matter is to generate plasmons in a detector.
	Physics Researcher Awarded Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal Congratulations to Physical Sciences’ James Wampler, a postdoctoral researcher and member of the Ivan Schuller Nanoscience Group, who was selected as a 2020 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal Recipient. Wampler is one of six medalists selected this year who will be recognized at the Graduate Division Virtual Commencement on Saturday, June 13.
	2020 YIP Recipient Monica Allen Earns $450K Research Award Monica Allen, assistant professor and Theodore D. Foster Endowed Chair in the Department of Physics, will receive a three-year grant totaling $450,000 through the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program.
	UC San Diego’s Rommie Amaro Wins Support for COVID-19 Research The Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) awarded seven teams of scientists $700,000 for cutting-edge research through its COVID-19 Initiative: Detecting and Mitigating Epidemics. Among the scientists selected is UC San Diego’s Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Rommie Amaro.
	UC San Diego Chemistry Student Stands Out to U.S. Dept. of Energy Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry PhD student Alejandra Arroyave is one of 62 students nationwide selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research program. She will conduct part of her thesis research at a national lab in collaboration with a DOE scientist.
	The Psychedelic Science of Pain The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego organized the collaborative Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative, which explores the potential for psychedelics to address chronic pain conditions.
	Onsite or Online, Good Teaching is Good Teaching With a deep knowledge of curriculum and instruction, Thomas Bussey, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, offers useful guidelines to educators as they navigate the online teaching and learning landscape during the pandemic.
	UC San Diego’s Mark Herzik Named 2020 Searle Scholar Assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry is one of 15 scientists to receive $300,000 for high-risk, high-reward research.
	Researchers Turn Algae Leftovers into Renewable Products with Flare Researchers take waste products from algae-based omega-3 oil production and convert them into valuable and renewable polyurethane foams with all kinds of commercial applications—from flip-flops and running shoe soles, to mattresses and yoga mats.
	‘Molecular Distancing’ Presents Pathway to Remote Chemical Reactions In a study led by UC San Diego Chemist Wei Xiong, he and colleague Joel Yuen-Zhou found a way to artificially make molecules in solution exchange vibrational energy at room temperature, challenging the current paradigm in chemistry.
	Physicists Go Out on a Limb to Advance AI Computing Department of Physics’ Alex Frano, Oleg Shpyrko and Ivan Zaluzhnyy, along with their collaborators, used quantum materials to create “neural trees” that mimic brain synapses.
	From Physics Undergrad to Rocket Parts Pro—in Reverse A typical trajectory for an undergraduate student is to get educated, get an internship and get a job. The career of Kyle Adriany (BS, physics; ’16) followed a different ARC.
	Perspectives on Remote Learning and Teaching With spring quarter classes and labs underway virtually as part of the collective effort to keep people safe, to stop the spread and to flatten the curve, Division of Physical Sciences science writing intern and chemistry undergraduate Z.Y. Zhuoying checked in with some students and faculty to see how they’re faring online.
	Five UC San Diego Professors Elected to National Academy of Sciences Physical Sciences professors Dmitri Basov, Terence Hwa, Clifford Kubiak and Kimberly Prather are among the Academy’s new members, recognized for their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
	Four from UC San Diego Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences Three faculty members and one vice chancellor are among the Academy’s 2020 class of 276 members, recognized for their outstanding accomplishments, expertise and insights toward the common good.
	Researchers Make Gemstones with Salty, Soapy Water for the First Time Collaborators from the University of California San Diego and New York University used water and salt to make “bling” with a proposed novel experiment by UC San Diego’s Jérémie Palacci to form ionic colloidal crystals from common colloids. Their research findings are published in Nature.
	Industry Leader’s Passion for Chemistry Ferments Career Home brewing and fermentation industry leader, UC San Diego alumnus Chris White, studied protein structure and function as a doctoral student. He used his experiences as an industry intern to eventually establish White Labs, Inc.
	Math Scientist Powers Up to Solve Energy Grid Problem Elizabeth Wong, assistant project scientist in the Department of Mathematics, was a member of an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional team that competed recently in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Optimization (GO) competition. The team placed second out of 27 participating teams, winning $400,000 for continued research.
	To Beat Covid-19, Scientists Try to 'See' the Invisible Enemy Using beams of X-rays and electrons, Rommie Amaro is leading a team of researchers in creating a moving model of the coronavirus in order to discover its weaknesses.
	Margaret Burbidge, who explored the universe’s distant reaches, dies at 100 A self-described “watcher of the skies,” her research shed light on distant galaxies, mysterious quasars and the origins of chemical elements, helping to explain how humans and most everything else are made of stardust. Burbidge died April 5 at her home in San Francisco. She was 100.
	E. Margaret Burbidge, Astronomer Who Blazed Trails on Earth, Dies at 100 Denied access to a telescope because she was a woman, Dr. Burbidge forged ahead anyway, going on to make pathbreaking discoveries about the cosmos.
	UC San Diego Distinguished Math Professor Named 2020 SIAM Fellow The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) recently announced its 2020 Class of SIAM Fellows. Among the 28 new fellows is UC San Diego’s Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Ruth Williams, recognized for her contributions to the study of stochastic processes and their applications.
	Chemistry Professor Honored with 2020 Ernest Guenther Award Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Tadeusz “Ted” Molinski has been selected by the American Chemical Society (ACS) to receive the 2020 Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products.
	UC San Diego Students Share Knowledge that Leads to 11th Grader’s Science Fair Win PhD student and undergrad leverage experience from their ongoing work to assist local high-school junior with her research project.
	Coronavirus Massive Simulations Completed on Frontera Supercomputer Rommie Amaro, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is leading efforts to build the first complete all-atom model of the external component of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus envelope.
	Scientists Observe Superconductivity in Meteorites Mark Thiemens, Ivan Schuller and James Wampler investigated a diverse population of meteorites. Among the 15 pieces of comets and asteroids studied, they found two with superconductive grains.

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