SBU Researchers Share 2025 Breakthrough Prize

Members of the SBU Department of Physics and Astronomy were recently among the recipients of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in recognition of their experimental collaborations with CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

P&A Participation in the Stony Brook Giving Day

This year, we have decided to participate in the Stony Brook Giving Day for the first time. Please consider donating to the two projects associated with our department.

Jennifer Cano wins the Stony Brook Discovery Prize

We would like to congratulate Associate Professor Jennifer Cano for winning the $200,000 Stony Brook Discovery Prize! She gave an outstanding talk last week at the Discovery Prize competition.

The 30 Year Anniversary of the Discovery of the Top Quark

30 years ago, on March 2, 1995, the CDF and DZero collaborations announced the discovery of the top quark! The Stony Brook High Energy Physics group led by Prof. Paul Grannis was the leading university group in the DZero collaboration.

PHENIX Experiment Finds Fresh Evidence for Tiny Drops of Quark-Gluon Plasma

A new analysis of data from the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL reveals fresh evidence that collisions of even very small nuclei with large ones might create tiny specks of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP).

Season's Greetings

Once again we collectively had another highly productive year in 2024. We got together in person, shared our lives, and created new stories and memorable moments. We look forward to having more wonderful stories and moments in our department in 2025.

Using Matter Waves, Scientists Unveil Novel Collective Behaviors in Quantum Optics

A recent paper by Professor Dominik Schneble's group, published in Nature Physics and accompanied by a theoretical paper in Physical Review Research, is generating significant attention from the media worldwide.

In Memoriam: Mike Simon

Simon1

We are saddened to share the news that Mike Simon, who was a faculty member in the astronomy group, has recently passed away.

We were informed that there will not be a memorial service.

You can find a note that his wife Anne wrote about Mike here.

Simon2

Welcome New Staff Member Adam Jenkins

jenkins

Adam Jenkins, Ph.D. : A Laser Scientist working in the AMO Physics Research Laboratories

Adam earned a B.S. in Chemistry (2016) at University of California, Davis and studied the photodissociation and charge transfer dynamics of small gaseous diatomic molecules using vacuum ultraviolet methods. He then continued at UC Davis as a Physial Chemistry graduate student and studied the photoinduced dynamics of synthetic and biological photoswitches. After earning his Ph.D. in 2021, he moved to The Ohio State University where he completed two postdoctoral appointments. First, he utilized a wide array of spectroscopic and theoretical methodologies to study metalloproteins. Later, he joined the NSF National eXtreme Ultrafast Science (NeXUS) Facility leading the design, building, and validation of the solid and solution phase X-ray absorbance capabilities of the facility.

Two Faculty Members Named Outstanding Referees by APS

referee

Congratulations to faculty members Jennifer Cano and Angela Kelly for being named Outstanding Referees by APS for 2025!

The Outstanding Referee program was instituted in 2008 to recognize scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals.

The highly selective Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes a small percentage of the roughly 50,000 referees who have been asked to review one or more papers in the last twelve months.

This year, 160 Outstanding Referees were selected.

Honorees are selected based on the quality, number, and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin, or field of research.

Department News Archive

Physics and Astronomy in the News

Physics and Astronomy in the News Archive