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.
More than a dozen Georgia Tech faculty members, students, and postdoctoral fellows are working with the large international research team that makes up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). This is the team that made its own splash in the science world in 2015 with the first detection of a gravitational wave signal, the result of a black hole collision 1.5 billion light years from Earth. Now LIGO announces that a third gravitational wave was observed and confirmed in January from even farther away: about 3 billion light years. Once again, Albert Einstein has been proven right, and once again the science media can't resist a story that features black holes acting mysteriously and ripples of space and time flying through the cosmos at lightspeed. In addition to this USA Today story, coverage includes the Washington Post, BBC News, Scientific American, The Verge and Phys.org, among others. School of Physics associate professor Laura Cadonati is LIGO's deputy spokesperson, and research scientist James Clark from the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics worked on the latest discovery.
sustainable fuels 2017-06-01T00:00:00-04:00
Science News is the latest stop for media coverage of David Hu and Patricia Yang's poop paper. This story contains details on how much work the researchers had to do to get information on mammal defecation, including trips to Zoo Atlanta to gather feces, and studying YouTube videos of animals pooping (are you really that surprised such videos exist?) Hu is an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics and an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Yang is a Ph.D. student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
C-130H aircraft 2017-05-11T00:00:00-04:00
This story does indeed sing the praises of the humble honeybee, focusing on special Atlanta projects designed to study and provide homes for our four-winged pollen pals. One of those is the Georgia Tech Urban Honeybee Project, located on the roof of Clough Undergraduate Learning Center. That's where Jennifer Leavey, program director and senior academic professional in the School of Biological Sciences, rules the hives. The story also mentions a recent study from School of Biological Sciences associate professor David Hu, who used the Project to research honeybee hairs and the role they play in pollen collection.
All hail the bee 2017-05-11T00:00:00-04:00Scientific American has reprinted David Hu and Patricia Yang's April 26 article from The Conversation detailing their new research on the defecation habits of mammals. (The Conversation also lists that article as one of its most read items for the past week). In addition to being an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Hu is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics and an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Yang is a Ph.D. student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
work family interactions 2017-05-06T00:00:00-04:00An international team has discovered a way to produce graphene from ethene, also called ethylene, through a high-temperature step-by-step process. The team includes two Georgia Tech researchers who are members of the School of Physics' Center for Computational Materials Science: Bokwon Yoon, a research scientist, and professor Uzi Landman, who is also CCMS director.
Wideband Millimeter Wave Transmit 2017-05-06T00:00:00-04:00Science Daily picked up the Georgia Tech news story about the ethene-to-graphene research study, which included two members of the School of Physics' Center for Computational Materials Science: Bokwon Yoon, a research scientist, and professor Uzi Landman, who is also CCMS director.
Juneteenth Celebration 2017-05-04T00:00:00-04:00It's Vice's turn to have fun with a new study on mammal defecation provided by School of Biological Sciences associate professor David L. Hu's lab. The study found that despite a wide range of sizes in bodies and feces, most healthy mammals poop at the same rate. There is one telling behind-the-scenes detail: study co-author Patricia Yang says her team promised other graduate students sharing the lab not to bring their animal dropping samples from the Atlanta Zoo into the lab until after 5 p.m. because of the smell. Hu is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics and an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Yang is a Ph.D. student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
Nathan Bowman 2017-04-28T00:00:00-04:00Why was School of Biological Sciences associate professor David Hu drawn towards mammal poop as the topic of a new study? His experience as a working dad, he recently posted on the Conversation blog, "turned me from a poo-analysis novice to a wizened connoisseur." The people running the PBS Newshour website had a chance to digest the post and decided to share it in full on their Rundown blog. Hu is also a adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics and an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Patricia Yang, a Ph.D. student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, co-authored the study, which appeared in Soft Matter.
Faculty-Led Study Abroad Programs 2017-04-27T00:00:00-04:00Everyone poops, and it takes them about the same amount of time. A new study of the hydrodynamics of defecation finds that all mammals take 12 seconds on average to relieve themselves, no matter how large or small the animal. The research, published in Soft Matter, reveals that the soft matter coming out of the hind ends of elephants, pandas, warthogs and dogs slides out of the rectum on a layer of mucus that keeps toilet time to a minimum. “The smell of body waste attracts predators, which is dangerous for animals. If they stay longer doing their thing, they’re exposing themselves and risking being discovered,” says Patricia Yang, a mechanical engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Yang, a doctoral student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, worked on the study with David Hu, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
All mammals big or small take about 12 seconds to defecate 2017-04-26T00:00:00-04:00Somebody give David Hu's graduate and undergraduate students medals for bravery -- and maybe some hazmat suits. Hu, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics, is a 2015 Ig Nobel Prize winner for his "urination duration" research, and he and his intrepid fluid dynamics team have also gotten hands-on (yuck) with frog saliva. Now he has studied the physics of poop among mammals, venturing to Zoo Atlanta to follow elephants around and figure out things like speed, duration, size, mucosity, etc. Hu, also an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, makes the connection between his research and a better understanding of gastrointestinal health. The research also helped his team design state-of-the-art undergarments for astronauts. Hu's study was published April 25 in the journal (wait for it)....Soft Matter.
extreme temperatures 2017-04-26T00:00:00-04:00Imagine a liquid that could move on its own without human effort or the pull of gravity. You could put it in a container flat on a table, not touch it in any way, and it would still flow. As reported in Science, researchers have taken the first step in creating a self-propelling liquid. The finding offers the promise of developing an entirely new class of fluids that can flow without human or mechanical effort. School of Physics Associate Professor Alberto Fernandez-Nieves and postdoctoral fellow Ya-Wen Chang co-authored the study, which was led by collaborators at Brandeis University.
reconfigurable transceivers 2017-03-28T00:00:00-04:00To explore the mathematical possibilities of alternative geometries, mathematicians imagine such ‘non-Euclidean’ spaces, where parallel lines can intersect or veer apart. Now, with the help of relatively affordable VR devices, researchers are making curved spaces — a counter-intuitive concept with implications for Einstein’s theory underlying gravity and also for seismology — more accessible. They may even uncover new mathematics in the process. “You can think about it, but you don’t get a very visceral sense of this until you actually experience it,” says Elisabetta Matsumoto, a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
college of engineering; ISyE; fellowships; grad students; student awards; orise; cdc 2017-03-21T00:00:00-04:00- ‹ previous
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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
