Mafi named College of Arts and Sciences interim dean

Professor Arash Mafi will lead the College of Arts and Sciences as interim dean starting July 1, 2021.

Mafi joined UNM in 2014 coming from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

He heads the Photonics Research Group and is also the Center for High Technology Materials Director.

Congratulations, Dr. Mafi! Read the UNM Newsroom article.

Diana Dragomir discovers exciting new planet

An artist's rendering of TOI-1231 b, a Neptune-like planet about 90 light years away from Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An international group of collaborators, including Assistant Professor Diana Dragomir, have discovered a new, temperate sub-Neptune sized exoplanet orbiting a nearby M dwarf star. The recent discovery offers exciting research opportunities thanks to the planet's substantial atmosphere, small star, and how fast the system is moving away from the Earth.

Read more about this fascinating discovery in the AZOQuantum publication or the UNM Newsroom article.

How Hot Nanoparticle Collections Cool Down

An international team including grad students Lauren Zundel and Stephen Sanders from UNM, plus LANL and Institute of Optics of Spain scientists led by Assistant Professor Alejandro Manjavacas, recently developed an elegant and efficient approach to calculate radiative heat transfer on the nanoscale level.

Figuring out how materials transfer heat can lead to advances in thermophotovoltaics, in which wasted energy from engines and factories can be converted into usable electricity. Another application could be to build chips with more transistors while preventing computers from overheating.

Read more about this exciting research finding in the UNM Newsroom article.

Post Doctoral Fellow Position Available

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of New Mexico (UNM) invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow position in optical imaging instrument development in the Chakraborty Lab. For best consideration apply by July 31, 2021.