To request a media interview, please reach out to School of Physics experts using our faculty directory, or contact Jess Hunt-Ralston, College of Sciences communications director. A list of faculty experts and research areas across the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech is also available to journalists upon request.
The word is getting out; Georgia Tech has a full afternoon of activities planned for the solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, which also happens to be the first day of classes for the fall semester. Eclipse glasses, a live eclipse video feed from the Georgia Tech Observatory, the "music" of the solar system, and free Moon Pies await our community. Our agenda is showing up on lists for where to watch the eclipse in metro Atlanta, including this wrapup at myAJC.com, this story at Atlanta NPR affiliate WABE 90.1, and this roundup on the mom-centric website Romper.com.
8 places to view the solar eclipse in metro Atlanta 2017-08-10T00:00:00-04:00As you can imagine, our resident astronomer and director of the Georgia Tech Observatory, James Sowell, is getting very excited about the Aug. 21 solar eclipse. Yet the one issue he wants to emphasize in the days leading up to the big celestial event is eclipse-viewing safety, and he gets a chance to talk about it in this "Eye on Blindness" podcast with host Carol McCullough of the Georgia Radio Reading Service. Sowell also provides details on campus events planned for the Aug. 21 eclipse and how to make your own pinhole camera. In addition to his stargazing duties, Sowell is a senior academic professional and graduate recruiter in the School of Physics.
Valentine's Flowers 2017-08-03T00:00:00-04:00Should Ph.D. students put their research work on hold for internships? It can be a challenge, but this story argues for its consideration. The real-world experience one acquires as an intern can help round out research students' résumés, give them an early taste of the professional world, and provide them with networking opportunities. Margot Paez, a Ph.D. student in the School of Physics, recounts her experiences interning at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during summer and winter breaks.
college of engineering; ISyE; fellowships; grad students; student awards; orise; cdc 2017-08-02T00:00:00-04:00The latest research led by David Hu on fire ants and their tower-building capabilities is compelling enough on its own. But video really adds a "wow" factor to it, and this Vox entry is a great example. In addition to an interview with Hu, it also has lab video showing living blobs of entangled ants being handled by researchers like they were lumps of Play-Doh. Hu is an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
Ramblin' Royalty 2017-07-25T00:00:00-04:00When fire ants studied by David Hu escaped his Georgia Tech lab and invaded a nearby professor's office, their method of breaking out – building an Eiffel Tower-shaped structure out of their own bodies – became part of Hu's research. That's how this New York Times story begins regarding Hu's new study of ant tower-building abilities. (Here's a New York Times video on Hu's research.) Quartz also covered the study; its story describes how speeding up the research video of the ants provided a better look at how the insects cycled themselves through the tower-building process. Hu is an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
Blanchard Early Career Professorship 2017-07-17T00:00:00-04:00
It's a story right up Science Friday's alley: the remarkable ability of fire ants to build soaring towers out of their own bodies. The new research from School of Biological Sciences Associate Professor David Hu gives public radio host Ira Flatow a chance to ask Hu not only about ant engineering, but also about what a fellow Tech professor thought when things got a little antsy in his office. Hu is also an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
John Lewis Student Center 2017-07-14T00:00:00-04:00
New research focusing on the remarkable tower-building abilities of fire ants continues to attract attention from top media outlets, such as this story from the Washington Post. Also, study co-author Craig Tovey, a professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, takes us behind the scenes of the research in this post for The Conversation. David Hu also worked on the study. Hu is an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
graduation 2023 2017-07-13T00:00:00-04:00Ants as energetic engineers – that's clear from the latest study led by School of Biological Sciences Associate Professor David Hu. The work reveals in great detail how fire ants can build Eiffel Tower-like structures with their own bodies. Applications could lead to structure-building robots. This New York Times video shows off the Tech research team's experiments, including an X-ray video highlighting the ants' remarkable ability to quickly build wide-base towers. Hu is also an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
Extension of Self 2017-07-12T00:00:00-04:00For the past nine years, Georgia Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson, along with faculty and other Institute officials, have taken summer tours of the state to meet with business leaders, lawmakers, alumni, and others with an interest in Tech's mission. This year's tour of South Georgia is the most extensive yet: nearly 1,000 miles, 44 counties, and 12 cities. The Tech entourage includes School of Physics Professor Deirdre Shoemaker, who at 1:48 into the video talks about what she hopes to learn on the tour.
sophia university 2017-06-21T00:00:00-04:00
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), an international group of scientists that includes Georgia Tech researchers, is being recognized for its recent work confirming the existence of gravitational waves. The Princess of Asturias Foundation, established by Spain's monarchy to celebrate worldwide achievement in the arts and sciences, has announced that LIGO and its founders/principal investigators will receive the Princess of Asturias Award for Science and Technical Achievement during ceremonies in October. The award puts LIGO in good company; previous winners include primatologist Jane Goodall, human genome pioneer Craig Venter, Internet founding fathers Vinton Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, and physicist Peter Higgs (of Higgs boson fame.) Laura Cadonati, School of Physics associate professor, is the deputy spokesperson for LIGO.
phased array systems 2017-06-14T00:00:00-04:00Here is Yahoo! News reprinting a Reuters story on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its recent announcement that it had detected a third gravitational wave signal. This particular ripple through space and time originated from a black hole collision approximately 3 billion light-years from Earth. Georgia Tech researchers are well-represented within LIGO, and Laura Cadonati, professor in the School of Physics, is the international research team's deputy spokesperson.
Jerel Harris 2017-06-01T00:00:00-04:00
A "black hole tango," the imagery in the headline for this Science story, hints at the implications of the latest news coming from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). The international team of scientists, which includes Georgia Tech faculty and students, says it has recorded evidence of a third black hole collision and the gravitational waves it produced. "These black holes are not like two aligned tornadoes orbiting each other, but like two tilted tornadoes," says Laura Cadonati, School of Physics associate professor and LIGO deputy spokesperson, adding that the research may prompt new theories regarding how these massive collapsing stars pair up in the first place. The latest LIGO findings are also covered at Space.com and National Geographic.
sustainability award 2017-06-01T00:00:00-04:00
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Events
CRA SEMINAR | Federico Testagrossa | DESY Zeuthen | Host: David A. Raudales O.
CRA SEMINAR | Federico Testagrossa | DESY Nat'l Institution | Host: David A. Raudales O.
Observatory Public Night
On select Thursday evenings during the academic year, the Georgia Tech School of Physics invites you to observe various bright celestial objects through telescopes.
The Ever-Changing Georgia Coast with President Emeritus G. Wayne Clough
Join us for a special author conversation, reading, and Q&A followed by a book-signing reception with refreshments, Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow swag, and drawing for signed books.
2026 College of Sciences Homecoming Tailgate
Reconnect with fellow College of Sciences alumni, friends, faculty, and students while enjoying food, drinks, and Georgia Tech spirit.
School of Physics Fall Colloquium Series- Dr. Andreas Karch(UT Austin)
Dr. Andreas Karch(UT Austin) Making the Great Desert Bloom
CRA SEMINAR | Alexander Plavin | [Nat'l Radio Astronomy Observatory NRAO] | Host: Prof. Ignacio Taboada
CRA SEMINAR | Aleksandr Plavin (Sasha) [Nat'l Radio Astronomy Observatory NRAO] | Host: Prof. Ignacio Taboada
School of Physics Fall Colloquium Series- Dr. Nitin Samarth(Penn State)
Dr. Nitin Samarth(Penn State) Puzzles at the interface between topology, magnetism, and superconductivity
Experts in the News
In an article published by The Conversation, Shiladitya Banerjee, associate professor in the School of Physics, discusses new research suggesting that single bacterial cells exhibit learning-like behavior in changing environments.
This article was also published by The Scientist.
The Conversation 2026-09-10T00:00:00-04:00If you dropped the exact same pulse of food onto two identical bacteria, you'd expect the exact same response. That's not what happened. In a study published in PRX Life in May 2026, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Georgia Tech found that E. coli exposed to unstable, feast-and-famine conditions adapted to new food far faster than bacteria pulled from a stable environment, even when the immediate conditions in front of them were identical.
You may think that one cell has no place to keep things such as memories. Scientists, including Josiah Kratz, a postdoctoral fellow in Georgia Tech’s School of Physics, observed tens of thousands of individual E. coli bacteria through a special microfluidic apparatus and found that the cause was ribosomes, the components of the cell responsible for building proteins and determining the growth rate.
The News International 2026-09-09T00:00:00-04:00Researchers in the School of Physics, working with King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, have found that standard methods for identifying chirality in topological phases fail when applied to mixed quantum states. The study reveals that established diagnostics, including bulk-boundary correspondence and the modular commutator, are unreliable in these complex systems. Consequently, the research presents two new measures, based on relative entropy, to accurately diagnose chirality and determine the chiral central charge in decohered topological phases, indicating a need for a new set of tools when investigating mixed-state topology.
Quantum Zeitgeist 2026-07-16T00:00:00-04:00Bacteria have no neurons or memories in the human sense. Yet in a new study, researchers at Georgia Tech and Carnegie Mellon University — including School of Physics Associate Professor Shiladitya Banerjee and Postdoctoral Fellow Josiah Kratz — found that individual E. coli cells carried traces of past hardship into the future. When nutrients repeatedly rose and fell, the cells changed how quickly they grew, suggesting that even simple microbes can use experience to prepare for what may come next.
ZME Science 2026-06-10T00:00:00-04:00Georgia Tech researchers have recreated the effects of solar wind on lunar minerals in a laboratory experiment, providing new evidence that the constant stream of charged particles from the sun plays a major role in shaping the moon’s surface.
The team exposed ilmenite, a mineral commonly found on both Earth and the moon, to a synthetic version of solar wind. The experiment produced nanophase iron, tiny metallic particles that are widely observed in lunar soil and are considered a key signature of space weathering.
Interesting Engineering 2026-06-10T00:00:00-04:00A new study led by researchers, including School of Physics graduate student Julia Esposito and Associate Professor Gongjie Li, used 1,500 virtual planetary systems to examine how planet-planet scattering may have influenced the formation of Jupiter-sized planets.
American Astronomical Society NOVA 2026-05-22T00:00:00-04:00
