June 2017

  • The Graduate School of Northwestern University has selected Fani Dosopoulou to receive the Holt Award. Named in honor of Helen Froelich Holt ’34, ‘38MS, it is a one-time award to help facilitate completion of the dissertation leading to a PhD. The prize is intended to provide monetary support in the student’s final year of writing and defense of the dissertation. Fani studies the formation and evolution of binary systems from binary stars to planetary systems and massive black hole binaries. She plans to use the funds to underwrite the publication of her papers in scientific journals.
    Learn more about alumna Helen Froelich Holt.

May 2017

  • Congratulations to undergraduates Rebecca Diesing and Charles “Chase” Kimball, who jointly won the Department of Physics & Astronomy prize for best senior thesis, 2017. This award is given on behalf of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Rebecca and Chase are both astronomy students; Rebecca works with Professor Farhad Yusef-Zadeh and Chase works with Professor Vicky Kalogera. Rebecca’s thesis: “Radio Observations of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center and its Orbiting Magnetar” Chase’s thesis: “Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of GRS 1915+105”.

  • Vicky Kalogera has been honored as the winner of the 2017 Martin E. and Gertrude G. Walder Award for Research Excellence. This award is given to one faculty member annually by the Northwestern University Provost. Provost Linzer states, “Vicky is a highly prolific and influential scholar in the fields of physics and astronomy. She is a senior member of the international team that detected the first direct evidence of gravitational waves. With these data, her team also made the first direct observation of two black holes colliding.”
    Read the Northwestern News announcement.
    Read the Office of the Provost announcement.

April 2017

December 2016

  • Across nine categories, Foreign Policy Magazine announced their top 100 global thinkers for 2016. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration is honored among “the chroniclers,” a group of leaders that includes filmmakers, novelists, and artists. The group is noted for producing “relevant, accessible, and urgent” work.
    Read the citation for LIGO.
    View all the Leading Global Thinkers honorees.

  • Physics World, the member magazine of the Institute of Physics, released their top 10 breakthroughs for 2016, naming the LIGO Scientific Collaboration’s gravitational wave discovery as Breakthrough of the Year. Nine runner-up achievements were also identified by the panel of Physics World editors and reporters. Criteria for selection is based on importance of research, advancement of knowledge, connecting theory and experiment, and general interest to all physicists.
    Read the full announcement from Physics World.

  • Science News magazine named their top ten science stories of 2016, with the first direct detection of gravitational waves at the #1 spot. The ten selections are diverse and include the Zika virus, polar ice cap melting, and artificial intelligence, among other fascinating picks.
    See the Science News Top 10 Stories of 2016.
    Read the full article about the LIGO discovery.

  • LIGO’s discovery of gravitational waves topped the APS Physics highlights of the year. The editors named it their favorite story. Physics provides daily online-only news and commentary about a selection of papers from the APS (American Physical Society) journal collection.
    View the Physics Highlights of 2016.

  • Ripples in space time are Science’s Breakthrough of the Year, and second most popular choice among online visitors for story of the year. Science Magazine is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s oldest and largest general science organization. Its mission, among other goals, is to communicate the value of science to the public.
    View the Science Breakthrough of the Year Video.
    Read the full article on Science’s 2016 Breakthrough.

September 2016

  • CIERA postdoctoral fellow Laura Sampson is among five female scientists honored with the 2016 For Women in Science Fellowship from L'Oréal USA. The program recognizes exemplary female scientists for their contributions in STEM and their commitment to serving as role models for younger generations. As part of the award, Dr. Sampson will receive $60,000 to advance her postdoctoral research. Along with the other recipients, she will visit the White House, the National Academy of Sciences, a New Jersey public school, and L'Oréal Headquarters.
    Read the full announcement from L'Oréal USA.
    Read the Northwestern News announcement.
    Read about Laura's achievement in the ChicagoInno.


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