Josef Sorenon recognized by DOE's Science Graduate Student Research Program

UNM Physics Graduate student Josef Sorenson has been selected to receive the US Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award to pursue his PhD this summer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) with his proposal, Co-design of sensors and electronics for 4D trackers.

Congratulations Josef! We are very proud of you.

Read more about this award.

New study finds evidence of an atmosphere on a rocky planet for the first time

Gas bubbling up from a lava-covered surface on 55 Cancri e may feed an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.

Assistant Professor Diana Dragomir and recent Astrophysics degree recipient Michael Bess were part of a recent study A Secondary Atmosphere on the Rocky Exoplanet 55 Cnc e, which used images from the James Webb Space Telescope to analyze light emitted by the exoplanet and its star.

See the UNM Newsroom article for details.

Dave Dunlap Retires After 35 Years

The department celebrates the retirement of Prof. Dave Dunlap after a long and distinguished career at UNM. Prof Dunlap's research focused on theoretical solid-state physics and he was a dedicated and popular teacher at all levels of instruction. He also had a close relationship with undergraduates through his roles with the Society of Physics Students and our REU program. Amongst his many public outreach activities, he coordinated our popular biannual demo shows with our students and turned the shows into a smooth operation. Congratulations!

Akimasa Miyake's quantum computing research helps to win $17 million NSF STAQ project renewal award

The National Science Foundation renewed the Software-Tailored Architecture for Quantum co-design (STAQ) project for another five years to develop a prototype quantum computer. Akimasa Miyake's expertise will be critical to the continued success of the STAQ project.

See the CQuIC article. Congratulations!

Sleeping supermassive black holes awakened briefly by shredded stars

Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) are active galaxies that host supermassive black holes at their cores. Out of these monstrous black holes spring two jets traveling in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light. But in comparison to other galaxies that boast fierce jets, these jets do not extend out to great distances -- they are much more compact. For many decades, astronomers suspected that CSOs were simply young and that their jets would eventually travel out to greater distances.

Read more in the UNM Newsroom article

UNM Physics Day 2024

UNM Physics Day 2024 was held on Saturday, April 13 and featured research presentations, poster sessions, and a plenary talk by Dr. Mousumi Roy.

Read more and see photos from Physics Day 2024.

Towards a New Campus Observatory

We want to make sure our educational, outreach, and research activities are preserved, expanded, and able to continue for a long time to come

The UNM Campus Observatory has initiated a crowdfunding campaign in an effort to raise funds for the planning of a new Campus Observatory. The current Campus Observatory was built in the 1950s and is now outdated among other concerns.

Read the UNM Newsroom article about the planning for this new facility.

Find out how to donate to our goal.

Job Opportunities at UNM Physics & Astronomy

• Adjunct Teaching Positions
• NIH FIRST: Assistant Professor
• Post Doctoral Fellow - Gold
• Post Doctoral Fellow - Quantum Information Science