News

UChicago scientists reveal a Jurassic otter that could chew and swallow like modern mammals

Matt Wood — 10/07/2026 - 11:38am

A well-preserved fossil of a 165-million-year-old mammal ancestor from China with hind limbs like a platypus and a broad, flattened tail like a river otter appears to be one of the oldest such creatures adapted for swimming and hunting in the water.

Dubbed Megacauda sungei (meaning “big tail”), the Jurassic mammaliaform also shows the earliest evidence yet of bony structures of the throat that gave this mammal predecessor the ability to feed and swallow like modern mammals—thought to lead to the diversification of mammal species with a wide variety of diets.

“This is an incredibly important evolutionary innovation. After mammals chew their food, be it plants or meat, they all swallow it in the same efficient and effortless way,” said Zhe-Xi Luo, the Mila Pierce-Rhoads Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago and senior author of a new study describing the fossil in Nature. “Once early mammals had this apparatus, each group could develop specialized teeth and diversify into a tremendous range of food resources. They could be carnivores, insectivores, herbivores, omnivores, or anywhere in between.”

A modern way of feeding

All modern mammals, including humans, have hyoid bones that link the mouth and throat passage down to the esophagus and the larynx. They are arranged in a U-shaped saddle, suspended by a chain of bony segments to the skull. This helps adult mammals to use throat muscles to swallow chewed food one lump at a time, instead of gulping down huge bites or whole prey like an alligator. These structures also give babies the ability to suckle mother’s milk.

Megacauda is from an extinct lineage of “docodonts,” which are near relatives of mammals from the Mesozoic Era. In 2019, Luo and his colleagues discovered a tiny docodont from around the same geological age called Microdocodon gracilis, which also had mammal-like hyoid bones.

Megacauda is a much bigger animal, though—40 to 50 centimeters long and weighing one to two kilograms. It also has better preservation than other fossils of the delicate bony structures underneath the skull for suspending the palatal and pharyngeal muscles.

This anatomy is comparable to the throat muscles of the modern opossum, according to co-author Peishu Li, who recently earned his PhD in Integrative Biology at UChicago and is now on the faculty at Ohio University.

The fossil was discovered in the Inner Mongolia region of China. During the difficult years of the COVID-19 pandemic, study co-author Chang-Fu Zhou from Shandong University of Science and Technology took the specimen to several research labs around the country to have it imaged with CT scanning and X-ray fluorescence photography.

The large fossil slab had to be separated into smaller pieces for scanning, but the scans allowed April Neander, a scientific artist and expert on CT imaging at UChicago, to visualize its structures in fine detail.

A semi-aquatic kind of life

In addition to the intricate hyoid bones and throat structure, the fossil is also preserved with the pelvis, hind limbs, and tail that distinguished it as a powerful swimmer. The back legs had long outer digits like a platypus with wide, H-shaped tail vertebrae and a broad outline of a tail to propel itself in the water. The skull had robust canines and shearing cheek-teeth to cut and chew meat in a different way from modern carnivorous mammals.

In 2006, Luo’s team also discovered another swimming docodont called Castorocauda. “The new fossil is particularly interesting because it’s older than Castorocauda. Although both docodonts occupied the same niche in the water, the new fossil is more complete,” Neander said. “In addition to the exciting features of the skull and the hyoid bones, we have this fantastic pelvis, which is more complete than all other specimens from this time.”

The researchers believe that Megacauda had a semi-aquatic lifestyle, dipping into the water to hunt long before modern mammals like platypuses, otters, and minks.

The fossil even has some tiny bits of vertebrate bones in its stomach, suggesting that it likely preyed on small animals like the abundant salamanders also found in the same fossil beds.

Like modern mammals, docodonts were extraordinarily diverse, living in a variety of habitats, from the tree-dwelling Microdocodon to swimmers like Megacauda.

Luo said this nearly complete specimen helps researchers to interpret how such mammals fit in the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic ecosystems, well before the later diversification of modern mammals.

“Docodonts are the most speciose group of the stem mammals across North America, Europe, and China, and this is probably one of the two most complete specimens for the group,” Luo said. “This fossil shows that the intricate structures of the throat are starting to come together, long before modern mammals split off from their predecessors, and they are very important to the evolutionary innovation that underlies later adaptive radiation.”

Additional authors include Yikun Li and Honggang Zhang from Shenyang Normal University, China, and Thomas Martin from Universität Bonn, Germany.

Citation: “A Jurassic Mammaliaform Swimmer and Transformation of the Mammalian Pharynx.” Li et al, Nature, Oct. 7, 2026.

Funding: National Science Foundation USA, the Taishan Scholar Program of Shandong, China, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Ohio University.

Book bans are surging. So are efforts to ‘let books be’

Tori Lee — 10/06/2026 - 09:42pm

Dulcey Hunter first read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) in her 11th-grade English class. The harrowing story of Pecola Breedlove, a young girl from an abusive home who longs for blue eyes, is one of the most challenged books ever published.

“It’s not only a literary masterpiece, but one of the most haunting yet powerful books that I have read,” said Hunter, the University of Chicago’s inaugural banned books postdoctoral scholar. “It changed me as a reader.”

Last year, the American Library Association tracked challenges to over 4,000 unique titles—the second-highest ever documented. Nearly 40% of challenged books featured the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals and people of color.

In response to the surge in book challenges, the UChicago Library launched its Banned Books Initiative, bolstering a collection that now includes over 2,000 banned books and enabling academic research on the impact of book bans. As part of the initiative, Hunter joins the UChicago Library and Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, where she will expand her dissertation research to examine literary censorship from a trauma-informed perspective.

For Banned Books Week, held each October to raise awareness of censorship and champion the freedom to read, we spoke to the former Florida teacher about her research, banned book surges and why classrooms are essential spaces for open dialogue.

The following Q&A has been edited for clarity.

What does it mean when a book is ‘banned?’ By whom? And what is the difference between a book ban and a challenge?

The American Library Association defines a ban as the removal of materials from a collection based on the objections of a person or group, whereas a book challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict access to materials.

A restriction could mean relocating the book to a different section of the library. It might be labeled with a prejudicial content warning. It might require parental permission or be removed from the stacks or the catalog.

In 2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers. These were coordinated campaigns by organizations. Less than 3% of challenges originated from individual parents.

What about within a school? What happens when a book is banned from a curriculum?

Restrictions in the curriculum sometimes mean outright bans—this book may not be taught—but often what we see is an erosion of access and restriction of choice. Teachers are not having the opportunity to provide professional input or choose the texts they will be teaching.

We’re also seeing that the threat of censorship, or the ambiguous language around book banning, creates a chilling effect. Teachers may be self-censoring. Many educators, due to professional strain, fear of retribution or backlash, decide not to incorporate controversial texts and stick with the safe choices.

How does this factor into your own research? I know you worked as a language arts teacher in Florida for over 20 years.

I started teaching full time in 2001, so only a few weeks before 9/11. I love teaching English. I love working with young people, but nothing prepares you for those moments.

When you're caring for young people, your needs are secondary. But teachers are human beings; we're not merely instruments of instruction.

Inspired by my personal experiences, as well as those of my colleagues, my dissertation explored the personal stories of trauma of secondary English language arts teachers through in-depth interviews.

One of the most important findings was that trauma ruptures the lives of those who experience it in a way that shatters their pre-existing frameworks and fundamentally changes them. It's also not just a singular or individual event; it reverberates individually and collectively through repetition, through memory and through story.

A lot of the literature that we study in English courses contains depictions of trauma; so do many of the books targeted by censorship.

How did these teachers feel about teaching books that depict trauma?

Participants said it was critically important to have an open space for students and teachers to be humans together—to talk about the more difficult aspects of human experience.

To bracket these inescapable realities of our lives, to pretend that nothing is happening, is even more harmful. There's a silencing, an erasure, as though your pain doesn't count.

The power of literature is that it's the closest thing that you can get to the lived experiences of others. When you have this portal into another person's world, it can open up perspective and understanding, empathy, awareness and compassion.

What are the most common reasons why books are banned or challenged?

Surges in book bans often follow major periods of social change and political instability. For instance, the spike in book bans in the early 2020s heavily targeted narratives around race and systemic racism in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement. We've also seen a surge in book banning concerning LGBTQIA+ representation and identities at a time when openness to issues of sexual identity and gender is broadening.

These campaigns are frequently driven by traditional power bases anxious about demographic and cultural shifts. Research shows that book bans spike heavily in politically contested counties and during election cycles. Lawmakers and political candidates frequently use book bans as a symbolic political action to mobilize voters.

But book banning goes beyond mere rhetoric. When state policies threaten educators with funding cuts, termination, loss of licensure or even criminal prosecution, institutional compliance forces rapid book removals.

Even if a law doesn't go into effect, the damage is done.

What are your plans for the remainder of your postdoctoral fellowship?

While at UChicago, I’ll be conducting a research study investigating the experiences of teachers who have taught a banned or challenged book and how representations of trauma in literature intersect with the impacts of literary censorship.

We also have several initiatives through both the UChicago Library and the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, including a new series: Banned and Brilliant. Each month, I will select a book that has been banned or challenged and speak about why it's considered banned and brilliant.

The Bluest Eye is definitely my first choice.

UChicago commemorates America’s 250th with exhibition, discussions

10/06/2026 - 09:56am

Since the Declaration of Independence was issued on July 4, 1776, people have long examined its words and debated its meaning.

This fall, members of the University of Chicago community will continue to explore the Declaration and how it has shaped the nation. From exhibitions to panel discussions, UChicago scholars and students will examine our past and future as the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary.

Recently opened to the public, a Library exhibition examines how the “founding” document’s ideas have been used time and time again to radically different aims. Created Equal: The Premises and Promises of the Declaration of Independence, was curated by UChicago constitutional scholar Eric Slauter and a team of 25 undergraduate students.

“The Declaration’s meaning has never been solitary or uncontested,” said Slauter, an associate professor in the Department of English, who has taught a College course on the Declaration since 2017. “From the moment the document hit the streets in 1776, people have wondered what its authors meant and whether the philosophical premise that “all men are created equal” should be understood as a political promise.”

Slauter worked with students to assemble and interpret rare books, manuscripts and historical documents from the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, which is on display on the first floor of the Regenstein Library through Dec. 11.

Learn about the other events happening across the University commemorating the country’s 250th below:

Oct. 7: Conversation on Democratic texts

A panel of experts will examine the Declaration of Independence and its enduring significance—the first in series of conversations this year focused on texts key to the foundation of American democracy.

The event will include Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Up First” podcast; John Kirby, director of UChicago’s Institute of Politics; Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law; Steven Pincus, the Thomas E. Connelly Professor of British History; and Eric Slauter, associate professor of English.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. at International House. (RSVP here.) It is organized by the Institutions Initiative, the Chicago Center on Democracy, the Institute of Politics, the College, the Social Sciences Division and International House.

Oct. 16-Dec. 14: “Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work”

Artists have always responded to great inflection points in American history. Toni Morrison famously wrote: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair.”

Institutions and organizations from across UChicago—along with Illinois Humanities, in partnership with The Toni Morrison Foundation—have worked together to curate a suite of events that respond to Morrison’s charge. Events in the series will run from October through December at venues throughout Chicago. All events are open to the public.

On Nov. 5, Court Theatre will host a town hall exploring theater’s role as a pillar of civic life and a way to respond to America 250. On Nov. 6, panels of artists, curators and journalists will convene at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts for keynote conversations on creativity and politics.

The events are presented by Court Theatre, the Division of Arts & Humanities, Arts + Public Life, Institute of Politics, UChicago Presents and the Graham School.

Nov. 5: Faculty discussion with David Rubenstein

On Nov. 5, a panel of UChicago scholars will reflect on the Declaration of Independence as “our national experiment.”

David M. Rubenstein, JD’73, chair of UChicago’s Board of Trustees, will moderate a discussion with UChicago experts: Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law; Steven Pincus, the Thomas E. Connelly Professor of British History; Ruth Bloch Rubin, associate professor of Political Science; and Eric Slauter, associate professor of English.

The event, which is open to UChicago faculty, students, and staff, will begin at 4 p.m. at the Rubenstein Forum. Registration is required; RSVP here.

Nov. 7: Peter Sagal Constitution sessions

As part of Arts and Humanities Day, NPR’s Peter Sagal will host two events with UChicago faculty events examining our democracy and the Declaration of Independence.

At 1:30 p.m., Sagal will talk with Profs. Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq about their book How to Save a Constitutional Democracy. The conversation will examine constitutional systems around the world—and what makes some democracies more resilient than others. Tickets are available at the Arts and Humanities Day website.

At 6:30 p.m., Sagal will interview UChicago experts who will examine the construction, reception and contemporary significance of the Declaration of Independence. The panelists will include Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law; Steven Pincus, the Thomas E. Connelly Professor of British History; and Eric Slauter, associate professor of English. Tickets are available at the Arts and Humanities Day website.

Earlier in the day, Slauter will lead a guided tour of a special Library exhibition at UChicago commemorating the Declaration’s 250th. Register here for tour, which begins at 3:15 p.m.

Nov. 11: Discussion on AI and democracy

As part of its America at 250 series, the Graham School will host an event, entitled “Could AI Put Our Democracy at Risk?”

Matthew Botvinick, a senior fellow at Yale Law School and leading AI researcher at Anthropic, will discuss his new book AI and Political Freedom: The Risk to Democracy and How to Respond. Prof. Nick Feamster, who directs the Network Operations and Internet Security Lab at UChicago, will moderate the discussion. RSVP at the Graham School website.

Now through Jan. 8: Pierre Bismuth: Love Bless America

The Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society is hosting an exhibition this fall featuring works by French artist and filmmaker Pierre Bismuth. The centerpiece of Love Bless America is a long-form meditative film by Bismuth, which documents a creative collaboration between Joshua Abrams and Sharon Udoh—two leading figures from Chicago’s jazz and improvised music scene.

In addition to this new film, Bismuth will present a series of digital images resembling American flags emblazoned with lyrics from the hymn. Learn more at the Neubauer Collegium website.

Does birth order shape our health? UChicago scientists analyze 5 million families to understand

Grace Niewijk — 10/05/2026 - 11:44am

Anyone who has a brother or sister knows that siblings raised under the same roof can show stark dissimilarities when it comes to everything from favorite colors to food allergies.

But for Andrey Rzhetsky, the Edna K. Papazian Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, those everyday observations turned into a scientific hunch.

“I have casually observed a lot of differences among sets of siblings in both my research and my own family, such as older siblings often being overachievers,” he said. “I came to wonder if diseases might also differ across siblings. Fortunately, we have the data to tackle this question.”

The resulting study, published in Nature Health, suggests that some of those differences run deeper than personality.

Rzhetsky's team analyzed anonymized insurance claims from over 5 million American two-child families, and found that the order in which a child is born into a family is meaningfully associated with the diseases they are likely to develop later in life.

Among 418 conditions the researchers examined, 150 showed statistically significant links to birth order, with firstborns more prone to neurodevelopmental disorders and allergies and second-borns more prone to substance use disorders, migraines, and certain gastrointestinal and infectious conditions.

The findings, drawn from one of the largest sibling datasets ever assembled, suggest that early-life environment leaves a durable fingerprint on adult health.

This doesn't mean anyone is destined to get sick because of where they fall in the family lineup, but the knowledge could help inform preventative care and shed light on health trends.

An enormous natural experiment

As someone who studies complex human phenotypes on a large scale, Rzhetsky says siblings offer a rare gift to researchers: a built-in control group.

“Genetically, two siblings have the same probability of getting genes from each parent,” he explained. “It's kind of a natural randomization process.”

That randomization allowed the team, led by first author Benjamin Kramer—a summer research student in Rzhetsky's lab at the time—to isolate and closely scrutinize an array of environmental influences.

The researchers ran two parallel analyses: a between-family comparison of 1.6 million matched pairs and a within-family comparison across all 5.1 million families, controlling for parental age, sex and the gap between births. Both approaches produced results that pointed in the same direction.

Firstborns showed elevated odds of being diagnosed with autism, ADHD, Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and anxiety, as well as asthma, allergic rhinitis, food allergies and acne.

In contrast, second-born siblings carried higher odds of substance use disorders, gastritis, duodenitis, migraines, shingles, biliary tract disease and kidney infections.

The overall split was surprisingly even: 79 conditions were more likely to appear in firstborns, while 71 favored second-borns.

Importantly, Rzhetsky emphasized, this doesn't mean one sibling is doomed to encounter more health issues.

“It's not that order of birth makes a person sicker,” he said. “Just the probability of what hits first changes.”

The mystery of the age gap

One of the study's most intriguing findings involves the space between siblings.

Shorter gaps between births were associated with reduced risk of several conditions, particularly neuropsychiatric diagnoses in older siblings, and allergies and asthma in both.

That pattern hints at a biological explanation Rzhetsky finds especially compelling.

“We can’t yet prove this hypothesis, but we suspect the exchange of microbiome between two siblings may play a role,” he said. “It would make sense for the microbiome exchange to be more protective when the age gap is small.”

The theory aligns with the long-standing “hygiene hypothesis,” which proposes that early exposure to a diverse array of microbes helps train the developing immune system. A younger sibling arriving soon after the first may both contribute to and benefit from a richer microbial mix in the household.

Future studies may explore sibling microbiomes and other possible explanations, including subtle differences in parental attention, diagnostic timing and the biology of successive pregnancies.

Potential to inform proactive care

Rzhetsky says that for now, parents and patients shouldn’t read too much into these results when considering their own families’ health. The associations are real but modest at the individual level, and birth order is only one thread in a very tangled web of disease risk factors. Still, he sees opportunities for practical implications on a broader level.

“First and second siblings might benefit from different prophylaxis,” he suggested. “Physicians may want to watch different populations more closely for different things.” For example, a pediatrician who knows a whole family could tailor screening or preventive advice according to birth order, watching more closely for allergies in a first child, or for signs of gastrointestinal disorders in a second.

The team is already extending the work internationally, examining national health data from other countries to see if the core findings are replicated.

Rzhetsky's longer-term hope is to move from observing patterns to identifying mechanisms — to figure out how and why being born first, or second, or three years after a sibling instead of one, nudges the body down subtly different paths.

The other author on the paper was Steven A. Kushner of Columbia University.

Citation: “Birth order and disease risk across the human phenome” Kramer, Kushner and Rzhetsky, Nature Health, Aug. 3, 2026.

Funding: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health

—Adapted from an article posted by the Biological Sciences Division.

Chicago in Conversation: Partnership to foster dialogue around city and its future

10/02/2026 - 10:30am

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and Chicago Public Media are partnering on a new initiative, which will bring together 40 civic-minded Chicagoans of different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences to explore some of the most consequential issues facing the city. Called Chicago in Conversation: People, Policy, and the City We Share, the program also will explore what it takes to have productive conversations across those differences.

The program’s participants will begin by taking part in civil discourse training led by Leila Brammer, the director of curriculum at UChicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. Then they will join a series of intimate, facilitated conversations guided by Harris Public Policy faculty members and Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ journalists, to learn more about and discuss some of the most complex public policy questions confronting Chicago.

The aim is not to persuade participants to agree with one another. It is to create a space in which Chicagoans can engage seriously with difficult questions, encounter perspectives different from their own, and develop the skills and relationships needed to carry those respectful conversations into their own communities in ways that inspire change.

“Chicago in Conversation was born of the notion that in a healthy civil society we need to be able to engage constructively with perspectives and information that challenge our own ways of thinking, especially about our most deeply held views,” said Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, the Sydney Stein Professor and dean of the Harris School of Public Policy. “The University of Chicago has long believed in the value of open inquiry and respectful conversation across differences. This initiative gives us an opportunity to put those principles into practice directly with Chicagoans.”

The partnership brings together two institutions with a shared commitment to the civic life of Chicago. Harris contributes deep expertise in policy research and UChicago’s tradition of open inquiry, while Chicago Public Media brings storytelling and longstanding connection to the issues that matter most to Chicagoans.

The initiative comes at a moment when Chicagoans recognize the depth of the nation’s current political division, but remain considerably more hopeful about their ability to work through it close to home. A new poll supported by Harris and Chicago Public Media, relying on NORC’s ChicagoSpeaks Panel, finds that 80% of Chicago residents describe the United States as extremely or very politically divided. Forty percent say the same of Illinois, while just 27% describe Chicago that way.

More importantly, 60% of Chicagoans are optimistic that people with different political views can still come together and work out their differences in Chicago. The poll also suggests that political conversations matter even when they do not change minds: 74% of Chicagoans say they have learned new information through a political conversation, while 71% say they have taught someone else something new.

Those findings point to both the challenge and the opportunity that Chicago in Conversation is designed to explore.

“Every day, journalism helps people make sense of complex issues,” said Ariel Van Cleave, managing director of audio at Chicago Public Media. “But understanding a city also requires creating opportunities for people to listen to one another. Chicago in Conversation is built on the belief that curiosity, thoughtful reporting, and respectful dialogue can deepen public understanding, even when people leave the room with different conclusions.”

Topics the program participants will be asked to wrestle with include Chicago's fiscal future; economic inequality; and local government, democracy and representation. Each conversation will bring data and policy expertise that help clarify trade-offs, paired with the experiences and perspectives participants bring from their own communities.

Participants in the initial cohort will be encouraged to carry the tools, relationships, and habits of constructive dialogue into their workplaces, neighborhoods, organizations and personal networks, creating opportunities for thoughtful exchange well beyond the program.

—This article originally appeared on the Harris School website.

Driven, curious, ready: Meet the UChicago Class of 2030

Colin Terrill — 10/01/2026 - 11:50am

The Class of 2030 has arrived. The University of Chicago welcomed its newest students to campus last week, each of them ready to begin a journey that will build an intellectual foundation for life.

Among the newest cohort of Maroons are undergraduates that grew up under Montana’s big skies, have created music or even competed in sport on an international level.

We spoke with five of these students to learn more about them and what they hope to learn and experience during their time at UChicago.

Tyler Ferguson

Tyler Ferguson has no shortage of hobbies. An avid guitar player who has recorded a couple of EPs, he also plays several other instruments while working out and maintaining his ever-growing comic book collection. However, the first-year student from Troy, Missouri is most passionate about his academic future.

“I graduated at the top of my class, but I didn’t feel like I was really challenged,” he said. “So, I searched for an environment that was going to be most conducive to my academic growth and give me a place where I could get into the type of intellectual discussions and spirited debates that I’ve always wanted to have.”

UChicago was that place. While he has never been to the city, he’s excited to experience the melting pot of Chicago along with its museums, restaurants and, of course, local music scene—especially its venues that showcase blues and jazz.

Ferguson intends to bring his love of music into his academic plans by finding a speciality in the artform along with his other interest in sociology. He feels the latter subject can be integrated into any other discipline he might want to explore in the future.

With his desire to blend majors and interests, it should come as no surprise that he views the Core curriculum as one of the best learning opportunities the College has to offer.

“I think that you bring a little bit of whatever you're passionate about into whatever subject you're studying, regardless of whether it's tied to your prospective majors or not,” Ferguson said. “That is what makes the Core so special.”

He wants to make a solid group of friends that he can explore the city with in his first year. Beyond that, he’s thinking of someday earning a doctorate. But whatever happens, he already knows he’ll take UChicago with him.

“I want to take that spirit of deep inquiry no matter where I end up on my journey,” Ferguson said.

Brexton Fraelich

A native of Wakeman, Ohio, Brexton Fraelich’s graduating high school class was around 80 students. Needless to say, his UChicago experience has already been a little different than he’s used to.

“It feels like I’ve already met 80 new people since I’ve been here, but honestly, that was one of the things that I was looking forward to most,” he said.

Fraelich is a member of the Maroons’ football team, for which he plays wide receiver, but decided to come to UChicago because of the challenges it offers academically. He is leaning towards majoring in business economics but says the College will give him the chance to really explore through the Core curriculum.

“I’m super excited to take Core classes because I like learning about various things like geography and history,” he said. “Being with other students who have different academic interests and backgrounds will offer a lot of unique perspectives and learning experiences”

Coming from the “tiniest town ever,” he is excited to get to Chicago and see what it has to offer.

“Every time I travel, I’m always wanting to walk around each new city that I visit,” Fraelich said. “To me, Chicago offers endless opportunities to explore and make it feel like home.”

His goals for his first year in the College are simple—get comfortable and settle in. When he thinks further down the road, his vision takes him far after graduation.“I want to be able to use my experience here to set myself up for a long and successful career no matter where that will take me, and UChicago is the best place to put me in that position.”

Maria Li

Maria Li was born in Shanghai, but has called the Netherlands home since 2020. It was there that she began taking an uncommon sport seriously.

“My mom always told me that I couldn’t sit still as a kid, so my parents enrolled me in fencing,” she said.

Li had been fencing since she was 10 years old but began competing on a more professional level when she joined her current club in Amsterdam. Along with other sports including badminton and volleyball, she also plays the flute, piano and guitar.. She intends to stay busy once she gets to campus.

“I plan on being involved with as many intramural sports as possible,” she said. “The same goes for RSOs like investing or hip-hop dancing. Actually, I’m really bad at dancing but I like to try everything at least once.”

This open-mindedness is going to guide Li in some of her most important decisions on campus. Originally wanting to study climate and sustainable growth, she learned from her tour guide that students commonly double- and even triple-major. So, while environmental studies are still at the top of her list, she might incorporate computer science into the mix or another subject that grabs her attention.

All these examples help one understand why she picked UChicago.

“The rigorous academics and activities and clubs all really fit me and my goal of having a full and fulfilling life.”

As far as what she wants to get out of her first year studying in the College?

“I want to prove to myself that I can keep up and succeed at the highest of levels. But I also want to have fun and see the Bean so it’s all about building that confidence that I can have the best of both worlds here.”

Alexandria Myers

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico but a resident of Montana since 2020, Alexandria Myers will miss “Big Sky Country” but couldn’t be more excited to start her Chicago adventure.

“There are so many things to see and do in the city, and that’s without even mentioning all the reasons why I chose to study at UChicago,” Myers said.

Myers plans to double major in molecular engineering and economics. She chose the College based on the interdisciplinary nature of the Core and the research that takes place on campus.

Research was a key aspect of her decision to come here as she lives with severe food allergies and was drawn to UChicago's Immunoengineering Innovation Center, which studies the immune system and new methods to treat those immunological issues.

Myers likes that she can further her interest in languages at the College too.

"This is a time when I can truly broaden my horizons,” she said. “So, taking courses that might not have anything to do with my career path with others that are in the same position will allow me to do that and add to the learning experience.”

Outside of the classroom, Myers tries to find time to tap into her creative side by sketching, specifically animals. She has worked as a teacher’s assistant for Coding for Kids, a nonprofit that provides technology-based classes for grades 1-12 in her area and volunteered at her high school as a unified partner for Special Olympics.

“It costs nothing to give someone your time, and volunteering has allowed me to meet all sorts of people and develop relationships and bonds” she said. “That, along with being a teacher’s assistant, were part of some of the most impactful moments of my high school career, and I hope to continue doing that on campus and around the city.”

Myers wants to discover new passions during her years on campus. Down the road, she plans to start a career in industry, research or academia after graduation.

Nola Sherrod

Nola Sherrod, born and raised in Los Angeles, is focused on goals both in the classroom and on the pitch. A member of the Maroons women’s soccer team, she ended up choosing UChicago because it was somewhere she could be challenged in all facets of her life.

“I wanted a place that I could explore outside of what I already liked,” she said. “UChicago prides itself on being a place where there isn’t just one way to approach a specific major or topic. I love that this place forces you to widen your view and explore everything.”

She applied as a biology major, but is now redirecting her focus to public policy. She looks forward to further narrowing down the direction she wants to go.

While downtime will be at a premium during her first few months of the school year, thanks to both athletic and academic demands, Sherrod wants to keep up with her hobby of making jewelry, something she picked up from her mom. She also wants to experience everything that the third coast has to offer.

“Lollapalooza is big on my list, and I hope to check that box off next summer,” she said. “But in the end, I’m just looking forward to living in a big city that has everything a little closer together than things are in LA. That and experiencing seasons for once.”

Outside of trying to win a national championship, Sherrod has one major goal she wants to accomplish in her first year at UChicago.

“UChicago has such a diverse community with people that come from all over the world to study here,” she said. “So, it goes without saying that I can’t wait to get to know my fellow classmates’ backgrounds, traditions and why they too ended up in Hyde Park.”

—This story originally appeared on the College website.

What goes on in your brain when you’re trying to multitask

Matt Wood — 10/01/2026 - 10:30am

Multitasking feels like a required skill in modern life, but as anyone who has tried keeping track of multiple chat windows, an email inbox and a stream of phone notifications during a video call can tell you, figuring out which messages are important comes at a cost.

New research by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago looked at what happens in the brain when it tries to complete multiple tasks. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, showed that limits to our ability to juggle multiple tasks come from “interference” between the way our brains represent different inputs, especially when their relevance to a given task is uncertain.

“The brain is good at keeping track of a lot of different things, but it becomes a big job to make sure they don’t get in the way of each other,” said Marlene Cohen, professor of neurobiology at UChicago and senior author of the study. “When you’re under high cognitive load, you’re trying to do too many things at once. Information gets mixed together in your brain even if you know it very well, and that turns out to be an explanation for this behavior.”

Mixing up information

Cheng Xue, a postdoctoral researcher who led the project, developed a series of experiments to understand why it’s so difficult to juggle multiple tasks.

The researchers asked more than 200 human subjects to perform a task where they watched a series of images on a monitor. First, an image of a circle with stripes would appear, and then after a short amount of time, another one would appear, either rotated in one direction or another or with differently sized stripes. The subjects were then asked to report which feature of the circle they were supposed to be tracking, and the type of change they observed.

Sometimes they were asked how confident they were with this choice, but with a catch: they were never told which feature they should track. Instead, they needed to infer this from their performance on previous tasks. The “correct” answer would periodically change, introducing uncertainty. Did they choose the wrong feature, rotation over stripes? Or did they get the rotational direction or change of the size of stripes wrong?

While people were usually able to recover after a few more tries, they performed worse on the tasks when they were uncertain, indicating that they weren’t sure which information to use to make their choices.

“What surprised us was that making mistakes under uncertainty isn't just about losing focus or being sloppy,” Xue said. “When we aren’t sure which rule to follow, our brains hold onto visual details we’re supposed to ignore. That extra information bleeds into our decisions, directly contaminating how well we perceive the things that actually matter.”

The researchers also trained two rhesus monkeys to perform similar tasks, and they were also able to get back on track after a few incorrect, unrewarded tries. While the animals performed these tasks, the researchers also recorded brain cell activity in their primary visual cortex and parietal cortex, which helps with task switching.

Using computer models that simulated the tasks and choices of the animals, Xue and his teammates found clues that helped them look deeper into the brain activity data recorded from the animals. They saw that there were separate groups of neurons that encoded visual features of the stimuli on the screen, either the size of the stripes or where they moved.

When the test subjects were less certain, like after a couple of failed tasks, this information was no longer encoded independently—instead, the visual representations were mixed up in the same sets of neurons. The researchers call this “feature interference.”

“It’s not that the visual information for one feature or another isn’t there and you can’t remember, it’s that you can’t keep the different features separate anymore,” Cohen said.

"It’s comforting to know that when we struggle to multitask, it isn't a failure of willpower or discipline. The brain’s hardware is prone to rely on the wrong information when switching gears,” Xue added. “Accepting that leaves us with a simple solution: tackle one task until it's finished and give our brain enough time to turn to another."

Explanations for complex cognitive behaviors

There are many examples in life where we see this kind of interference among other senses, like how it’s hard to focus on reading if someone is talking nearby.

Cohen said this suggests that it might be a general mechanism that limits our ability to switch tasks.

It may also provide clues as to what goes wrong in cognitive diseases. Her group recently published another study showing that they saw similar interference in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease, even when the subjects weren’t under high cognitive load or conditions of uncertainty.

“We can understand much more complicated aspects of our behaviors, our thoughts and our perceptions than we ever could before with the technological and modeling improvements that give us so much insight,” she said.

“There are so many people who have some sort of disorder that affects their cognition. These are not conditions that are going to have simple answers, but I think as we start to understand mechanisms for complex cognitive behaviors, we can also start to use that knowledge to diagnose people earlier and more accurately, and perhaps even identify targets for treatments.”

Additional authors include Sol K. Markman from UChicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ruoyi Chen from the California Institute of Technology and Lily E. Kramer from UChicago.

Citation: “Feature interference underlies a neuronal basis for the behavioral cost of task uncertainty.” Xue, Markman, Chen, Kramer and Cohen, Nature Neuroscience, Sept. 10, 2026.

Funding: Simons Foundation, National Institutes of Health.

—Adapted from an article published by the UChicago Biological Sciences Division.

New simulation projects what the Milky Way looked like at ‘cosmic dawn’

Louise Lerner — 09/29/2026 - 03:56pm

In the early days of the universe, our home looked very different than it does today.

Back then, the region in our universe that would eventually become our Milky Way neighborhood was a collection of thousands of smaller galaxies—some pumping out tons of new stars, others filled only with gas or littered with dead stars and black holes.

You can watch how these galaxies coalesced over time and formed the familiar spiral disk we see today, thanks to a new set of simulations by a group of scientists led by Harley Katz, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

The simulations, which took three years to run even on high-powered supercomputers, are the most detailed model to date of how a galaxy like the Milky Way might have evolved over the first several billion years of existence.

“What does the Milky Way look like at what we call cosmic dawn?” said Katz. “For the first time, we can directly predict what the early Milky Way would have looked like to telescopes like Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope.”

The six papers from the project, which is named MEGATRON, provide new insight into the makeup of early galaxies and how the elements formed over time.

The papers are published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics on Sept. 30.

How the Milky Way evolves over time

Since we cannot travel to the dawn of the universe to study it, one of the only ways we have to understand how space evolved over time is to build detailed computer models based on what we know about the laws of nature.

“Essentially, we put in all of the physics we think is relevant—gravity, hydrodynamics, radiation, chemistry, etc.—and then let it evolve and see if it reproduces what we actually see when we look around us today,” said Katz.

New data coming in from the powerful James Webb Space Telescope has added a new dimension to our understanding of the universe. So three years ago, a team of scientists undertook a project to incorporate this newfound knowledge into a model of what our galaxy might have looked like back in the first billion years of its existence. Then they can compare it to the readings Webb gets today to see what matches, and what’s missing.

If you run the clock back, the scientists said, you see a web of large and small galaxies of all different types, which will eventually merge into the modern Milky Way.

“We follow thousands of subsystems in the model and directly compute what they all would have looked like with our most powerful space telescopes, which is many orders of magnitude more than what had been simulated before,” said Katz. “Within those you see an incredible diversity. Some of them are bursting out in star formation, others are dead, others are in the process of dying.”

One unique finding was that the model predicts the existence of “galaxies” that don’t have any stars at all, but still shine. Some of these might have once had stars that exploded or collapsed directly into black holes; others might have only ever contained gas.

Another discovery addresses a long-standing puzzle in stellar astrophysics. In our Milky Way, we typically see that smaller and fainter galaxies have less iron. However, this trend breaks down in extremely faint systems where the amount of iron appears constant, independent of mass. Thus far, simulations have been unable to reproduce this behavior.

The culprit, the simulation suggests, is explosions from an exotic type of star left over from right after the Big Bang. These stars, known as population III stars, are so old that they are made of only the first elements that existed in the universe—hydrogen and helium—and when they explode, they can produce more iron than other supernovae do. If a galaxy is large enough, it will have enough gravity to hold onto this iron; but if it’s too small, the iron will be lost to space.

These population III stars, in fact, are so old that none have ever been directly seen by telescopes. Another paper in the set is the first to show how these stars form in an environment like the Milky Way, and predicts where these stars would be most likely to exist if any still do—which may help astronomers search for them.

The physics of stars and elements

A hallmark of these simulations is that they are much more complex than anything before attempted.

“What’s unique about our simulation is that it’s the first time we have modeled the enrichment of individual chemical elements from individual stars after the Big Bang, coupled to detailed models for gravity, chemistry, radiation and stellar processes,” said Katz.

This model, for example, was the first large-scale simulation to include a detailed computation of “non-equilibrium physics.” Most physics operates assuming, for the sake of simplicity, that a system’s chemistry is more or less in equilibrium. But of course, in the real Universe, galaxies are constantly evolving, which often breaks this key assumption.

Scientists weren’t sure how much this would affect the end result—and including it in a simulation slows down the computation significantly.

However, two of the papers that are part of the study shows adding non-equilibrium physics made a real difference—especially when dealing with flows of gases around galaxies, known as the circumgalactic medium.

Adding this complexity allows scientists to more accurately interpret observations, and to put limits on the number of possible answers to many questions about the formation of the universe.

“Looking at these results, it’s very clear that the physics happening right after the Big Bang has direct impact on what we see today in the local universe,” said Katz.

“But there are also things we’re not getting right, which is interesting too—what are the parts we’re still missing? That can lead you into new directions and new questions.”

Citation: "MEGATRON: Reproducing the Diversity of High-Redshift Galaxy Spectra with Cosmological Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations." Katz et al, The Open Journal of Astrophysics, Sept. 30, 2026.

Funding: NASA, European Research Council, National Research Foundation of Korea, Yonsei Fellowship, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Flemish Fund for Scientific Research, Swiss National Foundation, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, UKRI Frontier Research, Swedish Research Council, Swedish National Space Agency, LMK Foundation, Oriel College Research Fund.

UChicago physicist Vincenzo Vitelli named 2026 MacArthur Fellow

Louise Lerner — 09/29/2026 - 09:19am

Vincenzo Vitelli, a professor of physics at the University of Chicago known for his innovative work in unconventional materials, has been named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow.

Given each year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the prestigious grants recognize individuals across different fields who demonstrate “exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.” The MacArthur recipients receive a no-strings-attached grant of $800,000.

Vitelli is a pioneer in multiple subfields of physics, including metamaterials, active matter and non-reciprocal systems.

His lab has demonstrated unique forms of motion and adaptive behavior, such as robots that use simple principles of physics to navigate complex terrain, spontaneous rotations arising from “frustration” in nonreciprocal matter, ‘hidden’ symmetries linking apparently unrelated systems, and patterns emerging from turbulent fluids. These and other discoveries could give rise to future technologies that employ these principles.

In awarding the fellowship, the committee wrote: “Vitelli’s research is inspiring new metamaterials in mechanical engineering, robotics, and biophysics, and he is opening up new research directions into how non-reciprocal physics principles could apply to biology, human behavior, and artificial intelligence.”

Visionary and minimalist endeavors

Vitelli’s work focuses on the surprising behavior that can arise when many constituents—from molecules to macroscopic objects—interact. This includes “metamaterials,” artificially created materials which can display unusual properties, and “active matter,” which is created when groups of energy-harvesting constituents act together, like fish forming a school.

“There are two features of theoretical physics that in my opinion make it a creative endeavor: it is visionary and minimalist,” Vitelli said. “Visionary because you are imagining things that do not (yet) exist; minimalist because you try to represent them using a language elegant in its parsimony—mathematics!”

Upon receiving the call notifying him of the award, “I thought it was somebody playing a prank on me,” Vitelli admitted. “It took them a while to convince me otherwise. It wasn’t until they told me to call them back at an official number that it dawned on me that this could be real!”

Vitelli said he plans to use the award to explore a research direction he’s been mulling over for a while, which he calls “agentic many-body theory.”

“What that means is a theory for the collective behavior of information processing agents such as humans, bots, cells or even molecules that individually possess the capacity for adaptive, intelligent behavior,” Vitelli said. “The question I would like to pursue is: what laws emerge when many such agents interact? The generous support of the MacArthur Foundation will provide the personal freedom and peace of mind to launch in this direction.”

At UChicago, Vitelli is affiliated with the James Franck Institute, the Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Data Science Institute and the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics.

He received his bachelor’s of science degree from Imperial College London and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Before joining UChicago, he was a member of the faculty at Instituut–Lorentz for Theoretical Physics at Leiden University and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

Vitelli joins multiple colleagues at UChicago who have received MacArthur Fellowships, most recently including writer Ling Ma in 2024, statistician Rina Foygel Barber in 2023, sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller in 2022 and film scholar Jacqueline Stewart in 2021.

Enjoy these fall exhibitions across UChicago

Tori Lee — 09/28/2026 - 10:40am

As the ivy changes colors and classes get underway, exhibitions across the University of Chicago are opening to the public.

From Anatolian kings to immersive digital art and Nigerian bodybuilders, check out these fall offerings across campus.

Created Equal: The Premises and Promises of the Declaration of Independence

Regenstein Library, The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center | 1100 E 57th St | Open Sept. 8 to Dec. 11 | Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

The story of the Declaration of Independence often centers on its revolutionary authors, prominent politicians such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and (above all) Thomas Jefferson. But the Declaration we know today is equally a product of generations of readers, individuals and groups who discovered divergent meanings among its self-evident truths.

What story, then, best suits our moment?

This exhibition, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the document in 2026, invites visitors to experience the diverse responses to the Declaration in the age of the American Revolution, consider unfolding understandings over time, and explore conflicting interpretations individuals and groups have proposed at significant moments in history.

Hartapu: The Forgotten King of Anatolia

Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures | 1155 E 58th St. | Open Sept. 17 to March 14

In 2019, an inscribed stone pulled from an irrigation canal in central Türkiye introduced the world to a king who claimed to have conquered Phrygia—one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient world.

The exhibition tells the story of Hartapu—who ruled in the eighth century B.C.E. during a period of intense rivalry between great powers—through ancient inscriptions, archaeological finds and new technologies. Contemporary works by artist SaraNoa Mark offer a counterpoint, reflecting on landscape, memory and the labor and care of preserving the past.

How Do We Heal?

Smart Museum of Art | 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. | Open Sept. 22 to July 11

What can art tell us about how people have sought to heal from past traumas and grief? How can the process of making art become therapeutic? How Do We Heal? addresses the connections between art and healing.

How Do We Heal? takes an expansive view of healing from different challenges and considers the role of art in these processes through the Smart’s permanent collection. This thematic exhibition brings together artworks from across time, geography and artistic media to consider the relationship between art and healing both historically and into the present day.

Celebrate the Smart’s new fall exhibitions at the opening reception on Oct. 3. This program is free and open to all; Registration is encouraged.

Intentionality, 1960: Whose Dreams?

Arts Incubator Gallery at Arts + Public Life | 301 E. Garfield Blvd. | Open Sept. 24 to Dec. 12 | Thursday–Saturday 1–5 PM

A new solo exhibition by Chicago artist Candace Hunter centers on communities displaced by the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway and the memories, relationships and histories carried in its wake.

A continuation of Hunter’s ongoing project, 50,831 +/– Dreams, the exhibition brings together photographic collage, architectural fragments, archival materials, maps, sound, sculpture and oral history.

The exhibition will be accompanied by Threshold: Conversations on the Stoop, a series of public dialogues on race, residential space, displacement, memory and belonging.

Karimah Ashadu: Tendered

The Renaissance Society | 5811 South Ellis Ave. | Cobb Hall, 4th floor | Open Sept. 12 to Nov. 1

Tendered, a solo exhibition by British-born Nigerian artist and film director Karimah Ashadu, marks the U.S. debut of MUSCLE, a new moving-image installation centered on bodybuilders training in the heart of Lagos’s slums. The work situates bodybuilding within a broader field of exertion: the body as site of labor, investment and self-fashioning.

MUSCLE was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Renaissance Society, Fondazione In Between Art Film and Camden Art Centre, and is accompanied by a series of new sculptural works that draw directly from the film’s environments.

Karimah Ashadu: Tendered is presented in conjunction with the installation of the artist’s work Machine Boys at the Art Institute of Chicago, opening Sept. 11.

Pierre Bismuth: Love Bless America

Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society | 5701 S. Woodlawn Ave. | Open Sept. 26 to Jan. 8

The centerpiece of Love Bless America is a long-form meditative film by the French artist and filmmaker Pierre Bismuth. The film documents a creative collaboration between Joshua Abrams and Sharon Udoh, two leading figures from Chicago’s jazz and improvised music scene.

Bismuth has tasked them with composing a 21st-century spiritual based on a lyrical hymn he wrote for the project. The film traces the magic and workaday practice of “inspiration,” taking the traditions of religious music as a point of departure for a multi-layered reflection on love, music and the divine. In addition to this new film, Bismuth will present a series of digital images resembling American flags emblazoned with lyrics from the hymn.

teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity

Smart Museum of Art | 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. | Open Sept 22 to Feb 21

The art collective teamLab is renowned for creating immersive digital art installations that blur the boundary between viewer and artwork. Based in Tokyo, teamLab engages in wide-ranging experimentation with digital technology to create art that explores the relationship between the self and the world.

Founded in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab has grown into an international collective of hundreds of artists, scientists, computer programmers, mathematicians and architects.

teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity is the collective’s first exhibition in the Midwest and presents some of teamLab’s most iconic artworks from the past 25 years as well as new work made specifically for this exhibition.

Celebrate the Smart’s new fall exhibitions at the opening reception on Oct. 3. This program is free and open to all; Registration is encouraged.

Free UChicago talks on origins of universe, dark matter and physics to commemorate 50 years of discovery

09/28/2026 - 09:50am

Half a century ago, scientists at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute helped invent a new way to study the universe: by treating the Big Bang itself as a laboratory to explore nature at energy scales unreachable on earth.

This fall, nine of the researchers who carry that legacy forward will share what those 50 years have uncovered—from the invisible matter holding galaxies together to the gravitational ripples of colliding black holes.

The series of free public talks by UChicago scientists, “The Compton Lectures: 50 Years of Discovery,” run every Saturday from Oct. 3 through Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. in the Kersten Physics Teaching Center.

"Fifty years ago, cosmology was a fringe area of science, with little data and little theoretical effort," wrote Rocky Kolb, a UChicago cosmologist.

Kolb’s lecture, "Enrico Fermi Institute and the Chicago School of Particle Cosmology," will open the series on Oct. 3 by describing how the institute, in collaboration with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, led the world in the development of the new field of particle cosmology.

The following week, astrophysicist John Carlstrom will take audiences to the South Pole. His Oct. 10 talk, "Exploring the Big Bang from the South Pole," discusses the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background—the faint afterglow of the Big Bang—using specialized telescopes deployed at the South Pole and what that has taught us about the origin and evolution of our universe.

The series then turns to what the solar system's rocky bodies can tell us about the cosmos. Geophysical scientist Andy Davis will explain on Oct. 17 how Enrico Fermi Institute researchers discovered that meteorites carry grains of actual stardust—microscopic bits of material from dying stars and supernovae and what that has taught us about the origins and formation of our solar system.

On Oct. 24, particle physicist Marcela Carena traces the path from UChicago professor Yoichiro Nambu's insight about the quantum vacuum to the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. Her talk, “Broken Symmetries and the Origins of Mass and Matter,” will discuss the ongoing mystery of why the universe contains matter rather than nothing.

Physicist Jeff Harvey continues the theoretical thread on Oct. 31 with a half-century retrospective on string theory at the Enrico Fermi Institute, followed on Nov. 7 by Luca Grandi's survey of the decades-long hunt for dark matter. Grandi will describe how ultra-sensitive detectors have steadily narrowed the hiding places for the invisible substance that makes up 85% of all matter in the universe—and why the search remains one of the most exciting pursuits in physics.

Daniel Holz will bring audiences up to the present on Nov. 14 with "A Decade of Gravitational-Wave Science." Since the first detection of a gravitational-wave event in 2015, scientists have catalogued hundreds of collisions between black holes and neutron stars. Holz will highlight what that growing census has revealed about how the universe forges and merges these extreme objects.

Astrophysicist Angela Olinto, professor emeritus at UChicago and current provost of Columbia University, will describe on Nov. 21 how NASA science balloons equipped with ultra-fast cameras are catching the most energetic subatomic particles ever observed—cosmic rays and neutrinos arriving from the most violent corners of the cosmos. She will also preview a planned 2028 balloon flight expected to push those observations further.

The series closes on Dec. 5 with Young-Kee Kim tracing Chicago's contributions to precision particle physics over five decades, from landmark discoveries to stringent tests of the Standard Model of Physics, and pointing toward the open questions that may reveal what lies beyond it.

The Compton Lecture Series has been a fixture of UChicago public science outreach since 1976, when it was established by Enrico Fermi Institute Director John Simpson. The lectures are named for Arthur Holly Compton, UChicago Professor of Physics who shared the Nobel prize in Physics in 1927 for establishing that light doesn’t just behave like a wave; it also behaves like a particle with momentum.

All talks are held at the Kersten Physics Teaching Center, 5720 S. Ellis Ave., Room 106, and will also be broadcast online. More information can be found on the event website.

Aims address explores how age of AI is ‘a time for human thought’

Colin Terrill — 09/25/2026 - 12:33pm

It had been nearly 20 years since Prof. Kenneth Warren last delivered the Aims of Education address to new University of Chicago undergraduates.

And while the world has changed greatly for an incoming College student, especially with the rise of AI, Warren reminded the Class of 2030 of what hasn’t: the need to think deeply and reckon with the world around them.

“The time of education, if it is to be worthwhile even in the time of AI, should remain what it always has been at its best,” said Warren, the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor of English and Literature, “namely, a time for human thought—a time for thinking hard about and producing words about the world with all of its complexities, difficulties and inhumanities, with the understanding that, for the time being, you can feel OK only thinking about it.”

Capping off Orientation Week activities for new students, Warren spoke on Sept. 24 in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel as one of a handful of UChicago faculty members to deliver the Aims address twice since the tradition began in 1961.

“I knew there could be no question of merely reiterating what I had said on that earlier occasion,” he said. “You are not the same group I addressed in 2007 at the beginning of their time here. You, unlike your predecessors, are the first class at this University to commence their time of undergraduate education fully within what we call the time of AI.”

Seeing the big picture

Warren knows a thing or two about human thought. The associate director of the Department of English in the College, he has authored and edited several publications focusing on American and African American literature from the late 19th through the middle of the 20th century.

Warren explored both sides of the AI conversation. He noted that these tools can quickly complete what once seemed like immeasurable tasks.

“The time of AI is a time when it appears to be possible to do things that we once had to learn how to do without having to learn how to do them,” Warren said, though he noted there is a cost that comes with that convenience. Speaking on the brevity of AI summaries, Warren turned to the words of E.B. White in the book Elements of Style in which White writes that every word should “tell” in a sentence.

“One would not have reduced reading time by reading a summary,” Warren said, “because if every word of a piece of writing ‘tells,’ to leave out words would be to misread what you purport to be reading.”

He likened this to “only seeing part of a drawing” or “trying to make a machine go after having left out a few bolts.” If the reader were to save time, Warren added, they would only have done so “by accepting less of what was on offer.”

The value of thinking

Aside from whatever other dangers AI could pose in the future, Warren said the rise of such machines only increased the importance of human thought.

“Our thinking, which is human thinking, takes place in a world among other people who think and it unfolds among a lot of things that don’t think, but that, to quote [philosopher Simon Critchley and poet Wallace Stevens], ‘simply are,’” Warren said.

To him, that means our thoughts can simply exist without action and “can leave the things it thinks about alone.” AI can’t do this though and that the only way we know as humans that AI is working is “to see it doing something to the world.”

Warren said that AI has already ushered in extraordinary achievements and explained that his comments weren’t entirely meant to be a warning—but rather more of a way to put the students’ upcoming four years at UChicago in a different light.

As overwhelming as the changing world might seem, he said the students could understand everything if they just slow down and think.

“Maybe read a poem or two and then send an email to a friend, or hell, send one to me, describing what you make of it,” Warren said. “And then when, ultimately, you get around to doing what it is you feel you need to do, you will at least have thought about something first.”

—This article originally appeared on the College website.

XENON experiment finds quietest neutrinos ever detected

Louise Lerner — 09/24/2026 - 09:29am

Buried deep in an Italian mountain, an experiment known as XENON has picked up the quietest signatures of neutrinos ever detected.

Originally designed to look for hints of the mysterious substance known as dark matter, the detector’s extraordinary sensitivity allowed it to capture a different target—the elusive particle known as the neutrino. Neutrinos are constantly flying off the surface of the sun, with a range of different energies. The XENON experiment was able to capture neutrinos traveling at extremely low energies, lower than anything previously detected.

“This opens up possibilities for new explorations of neutrinos and their behavior,” said Luca Grandi, professor of physics at the University of Chicago, who led the design and construction of the latest iteration of the XENON experiment, known as XENONnT.

Neutrinos, sometimes called “ghost particles,” are thought to hold the key to many questions about the universe. They are difficult to study, however, because they only rarely interact with the matter that makes up our world; experiments must painstakingly filter out all other background noise.

The finding shows that XENONnT has achieved such a low background, Grandi said, “that we are becoming an observatory for rare processes, which can contribute to multiple fields of particle physics.”

Extraordinary sensitivity

XENONnT is located 4,600 feet deep into the sedimentary rock of central Italy’s Gran Sasso mountain, which shields it from stray cosmic rays or other phenomena that could interfere with the readings.

The experiment consists of detectors set into a large tank filled with six tons of pure xenon. Most particles are stopped by the mountain and thick walls—except for the most elusive particles, like dark matter or neutrinos. If one of these happens to bump into a xenon atom inside the tank, the detector picks up the shock waves from the collision. Every part of the setup is rigorously designed and fabricated with ultra-pure materials to reduce background noise so that these miniscule signatures can be detected.

This allowed XENONnT to capture signatures from solar neutrinos traveling with energies down to just 17 kilo electron-volts (keV)—far less than the energy of a flying mosquito.

Previously, other experiments could only detect solar neutrinos with much higher energies, around 200 keV.

“We are adding a large chunk of sensitivity to this field,” said Grandi. “It’s very cool that XENON was able to say something new about neutrinos, even though it is much smaller than most neutrino experiments.”

Grandi noted the data analyzed came from only the first phase of XENONnT. The detector has since been upgraded, and the forthcoming data should provide a further window on the results.

A busy week for xenon detectors

The day after the XENONnT announced its low-energy neutrino detection, a competitor experiment in South Dakota, known as the LZ Dark Matter Experiment, reported the detection of an anomalous interaction in their detector.

It’s possible this could be a signal from dark matter, but science must first rule out every possible mundane explanation, such as background noise produced by something else in the experiment.

"We are extremely well positioned," said Grandi, "to test the origin of this excess event, trying to distinguish between the hypothesis that such a high-energy interaction might be due to a dark matter particle interacting inelastically with xenon atoms, and the hypothesis that this is simply a yet-unexplained background that might be present in LZ but not in our detector."

The collaborations of both XENONnT and the LZ Dark Matter Experiment are also planning for the next-generation XLZD experiment, which aims to extend the search for dark matter to the highest sensitivities ever achieved.

XLZD could also measure low-energy solar neutrinos with exceptional precision, while opening new opportunities in neutrino physics and studies of other extremely rare processes.

“This observation of low-energy solar neutrinos demonstrates how advances driven by the search for dark matter are opening entirely new windows on the universe,” said Elena Aprile, professor at Columbia University and spokesperson of the XENON Collaboration. “It shows that technologies originally developed to observe some of the rarest interactions in nature are now enabling us to explore fundamental questions well beyond their original scientific goals.”

Citation: “First Measurement of Solar Neutrinos through Elastic Neutrino-Electron Scattering at the keV Scale.” XENON Collaboration, posted to arXiv Sept. 1, 2026.

Funding: National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, German Ministry for Education and Research, Max Planck Gesellschaft, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Helmholtz Association, Dutch Research Council (NWO), Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, Weizmann Institute of Science, Binational Science Foundation, Région des Pays de la Loire, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Kavli Foundation, JSPS Kakenhi, JST FOREST Program, and ERAN in Japan, Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education of China, DIM-ACAV+ Région Ile-de-France and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare.

Class of 2030, new students embark on UChicago experience

Colin Terrill — 09/23/2026 - 01:50pm

In his remarks to new University of Chicago students, President Paul Alivisatos welcomed the Class of 2030 and incoming transfer students into a community "famous for its culture of contestation” and its intellectual rigor.

“You made a choice to take a path toward cultivating a life of the mind,” he said at the Sept. 23 welcome Convocation for incoming College students in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. “Here, we consider this to be the path for forming a Chicago Mind, a path that, for those who actively choose it … is filled with delight and joy.”

Students will be challenged at different points along the paths of their intellectual journeys, he said, especially as they learn and work with and without machines in the AI era.

Alivisatos urged the students to be “ethical, skeptical and ambitious” about technology, leveraging something even the most formidable AI agents do not have: agency.

"These are powerful tools that have already enabled stunning discoveries," Alivisatos said in his Orientation Week address. "But make no mistake: You are and will remain the true agents of human knowledge."

Students who honor that commitment, he said, will graduate with something the machines can't supply.

"When you leave this place, having chosen this path, you will have superpowers of the mind," Alivisatos said. "You will have cultivated a Chicago Mind."

Melina Hale, dean of the College, explained to the newest undergraduates how the College and the Core curriculum will prepare them to respond to the question of who they want to be when they grow up with an answer that isn’t defined by a profession.

“The Core will shape how you engage with the world and cultivate your own individual humanity,” she said. “It also reinforces our collective humanity, especially when diverse viewpoints are offered, argued and probed.”

UChicago Trustee Michele Kang, AB’83, and James Nondorf, vice president for enrollment and student advancement and dean of college admissions and financial aid, also delivered remarks to the Class of 2030. Upon the ceremony's conclusion, students were cheered on by family, friends and members of the UChicago community as they walked in the cherished traditional procession across the Main Quadrangles and through Cobb Gate on their way to take their class photo at Stagg Field.

Move-in, graduate Convocation ceremonies

New students officially embarked upon their UChicago journeys with the Sept. 22 start of Orientation Week.

Filled with traditions and activities, the week helps new undergraduate and graduate students get acclimated to campus as they prepare to begin their lives at UChicago.

On Tuesday, College students moved into campus dorms with help from their families and resident assistants. Also that morning, new students from UChicago’s graduate schools and divisions received their official introduction to the University and its guiding principles during welcome Convocations in Rockefeller Chapel.

For the first time, Ph.D. candidates and master's students each had their own ceremony to kick off the week's programming. These events featured remarks from President Paul Alivisatos and other UChicago leaders as well as an Aims of Graduate Education address from Prof. Adriana Z. Robertson, the Donald N. Pritzker Professor of Business Law.

Other activities for new graduate students included an afternoon resource fair and info sessions as well as a welcome to international students.

On Thursday, Prof. Kenneth Warren delivered the Aims of Education address, an honored tradition dating to 1961 in which a UChicago faculty member is invited to speak to incoming College students.

Warren talked about the Class of 2030 about entering the University in the age of AI. Despite the rise in technology, Warren reminded students about the need to think deeply about the world around them.

Warren's remarks at Rockefeller Chapel were followed by small-group discussions for students with UChicago faculty in the residence halls.

—A version of this story is published on the University of Chicago College website.

Study led by UChicago scientists finds atmosphere on the coldest lava world to date

Maureen Searcy — 09/23/2026 - 01:25pm

In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look for rocky planets with an atmosphere, like Earth. Without an atmosphere, a planet can’t have surface water. But of the more than 6,300 exoplanets cataloged thus far, the vast majority are not rocky, and only a handful of the rocky worlds appear to have an atmosphere.

In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a group led by University of Chicago scientist Brandon Park Coy reports another: a rocky super-Earth 154 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. Named HD 3167 b, this very hot “lava world” zips around its host star in just one Earth-day.

“What’s so surprising is that the closer a rocky planet orbits its star, the harder it should be to have an atmosphere, because it’s bombarded by stellar wind and gets more high-energy photons from the star. But it seems that many of these lava worlds do,” explained Edwin Kite, UChicago associate professor of geophysical sciences and co-author of the study. “These planets are too hot for life, but by studying them, we can say something about the processes that matter for other rocky worlds.”

In the Q&A below, Coy, a graduate student in Kite’s group and first author on the study, describes why atmospheres on so-called lava worlds matter, how they found this one, and next steps.

What was the goal of the survey that found this atmosphere-bearing exoplanet?

One of the driving questions that the James Webb Space Telescope is being used to answer is whether planets orbiting stars much smaller than the sun have atmospheres. It appears that most of those terrestrial planets don’t—they’re just bare rock.

But surprisingly, we’ve found evidence that the majority of lava worlds—similar in composition to Earth and Venus but much, much hotter—might have atmospheres. Five terrestrial planets found with atmospheres, including the one described in this study, have been ultra-hot.

This planet, however, is the coldest lava world found so far with evidence of an atmosphere. This is interesting because we’re trying to understand the temperature transition between planets with and without atmospheres.

The result is the first from a program led by Megan Weiner Mansfield, PhD’21, who’s now at the University of Maryland. The goal of the program, which is looking at 10 ultra-hot lava worlds, is to see if there’s a critical temperature over which you start seeing planets with atmospheres.

How can you tell if an exoplanet has an atmosphere?

Right now, directly looking at Earth-like planets for signs of life is out of reach. Instead, we can use the Webb telescope to detect light in the mid-infrared wavelength range to estimate the temperature of exoplanets, which can tell us if they might have atmospheres.

There are two primary ways that we study exoplanets. One is called transit, when the planet goes in front of the host star. Another called secondary eclipse, which is the method we used for this study, is when the planet passes behind its star, and we can measure how much light is lost. That difference tells us how much mid-infrared light comes from the planet itself, which essentially tells us how hot the planet is.

If a planet doesn’t have an atmosphere, its star-facing, day side should be as hot as theoretically possible based on how reflective its surface is and its distance from the star. But an atmosphere would help redistribute heat from the day side to the night side. We see this happen on Venus—there’s almost no difference in surface temperature between the day and night sides, or between the poles and the equator. If a planet has an atmosphere, it might also have clouds that reflect incoming starlight and cool the dayside. So if a planet’s day side is cooler than the maximum possible, it likely has an atmosphere.

The subject of this study, HD 3167 b, is noticeably cooler than its expected maximum, providing strong evidence that it has an atmosphere.

What do you think HD 3167 b’s atmosphere is made of?

These lava worlds are so-named because the surface facing their star is likely melted rock. We think that HD 3167 b might have a silicate-rich composition, with a similar mixture of minerals that make up Earth’s mantle. Before this study, we expected that any atmosphere on these ultra-hot planets would be composed of vaporized rock, but we’re starting to see evidence that some might have heavier gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or water in their atmospheres.

The makeup of HD 3167 b’s atmosphere is still up in the air. That's one reason we’re so interested in getting new observations.

Why is this result important?

Because the four other lava worlds found to have atmospheres are in the ultra-hot regime, it raises questions about whether there’s a critical transition temperature when silicate atmospheres start becoming very thick. Is there a temperature where these planets form silicate cloud decks that might reflect incoming radiation to space and cool its day side? This relatively cooler planet helps us better characterize and nail down this transition.

Despite how inhospitable they are for life, we’re also interested in studying these kinds of planets because we think early Earth might have looked a lot like a lava world. We think that very early in the solar system’s history, when the terrestrial planets formed, they were extremely hot due to the energy from all of the planetesimal collisions. Earth had what’s known as a magma ocean stage with an entirely liquid surface. This result gives us a window into studying what conditions may have been like in Earth’s first couple of million years.

Citation: “Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b.” Brandon Park Coy et al, 2026, ApJL, 1005 L77.

Caption: Artist’s depiction of HD 3167 b, a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. (Illustration courtesy of NASA)

—Adapted from an article first published by the Physical Sciences Division.

Library of Congress awards John W. Kluge Prize to Martha C. Nussbaum

Nadia Alfadel Coloma — 09/22/2026 - 09:18am

The Library of Congress announced on Sept. 22 that Prof. Martha C. Nussbaum is the 2026 recipient of the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity.

Awarded every other year, the Kluge Prize “recognizes and celebrates work of the highest quality and greatest impact that advances understanding of the human experience.” Nominations are accepted from scholars and leaders around the globe.

Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, is globally recognized as one of the most influential philosophers and public intellectuals in the world, renown for her work in ancient classical thought, feminist philosophy, political philosophy, and philosophy and the arts.

A prolific author, Nussbaum has published 30 books, edited 27 books and written more than 500 articles. She has written extensively on the philosophy of emotions, feminism, social justice, animal rights, ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, and her “capabilities approach,” which offers a framework for assessing human well-being, focused on what human beings are effectively able to do and be. In recent years her writings have explored the intersection of law and opera, including The Republic of Love: Opera and Political Freedom, published in April 2026 by Oxford University Press.

President Paul Alivisatos said of Nussbaum: “As one of our generation’s leading philosophers, Martha’s work has enabled her students and readers to engage the world more thoughtfully as they go about their lives. I am delighted she has been awarded the Kluge Prize, a well-deserved honor to recognize her lifetime of achievements.”

“Martha is so incredibly deserving of the Kluge Prize for her incredible contributions to the humanities and to knowledge more generally,” said Prof. Adam Chilton, dean of the Law School. “Her wide-ranging work has made important contributions to philosophy, classics, the arts, law and a wide range of other subjects. And she has been one of the most vocal defenders of the value of the humanities and liberal arts education.”

A member of the UChicago faculty since 1995, Nussbaum is appointed in the Department of Philosophy and the Law School and is an associate in the Classics Department, the Divinity School and the Political Science Department, and a member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies.

She has received honorary degrees from more than 70 colleges and universities in the U.S. Canada, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. She has earned numerous other awards, including the 2022 Balzan Prize, “for her sustained contribution to a wide range of philosophical topics that together redefine our understanding of our ethical being;” the Holberg Prize in 2021 “for her groundbreaking contribution to research in philosophy, law and related fields;” the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture in 2018; and the Kyoto Prize, Japan's highest private award for lifetime achievement in the arts and sciences, in 2016.

This fall, a nonprofit organization in Bangladesh, the Banglar Pathshala Foundation, is hosting a study circle devoted to exploring Nussbaum’s decades-long scholarship as an intellectual tribute.

Prof. Deborah L. Nelson, dean of the Division of the Arts & Humanities, said of Nussbaum: “Martha’s work represents the very best of the arts and humanities. Her writing and thinking, steeped in multiple fluencies, explore the complexities of the global and historical human condition. She has built a remarkable foundation for current and future generations of scholars to approach enduring and difficult questions of ethics, aesthetics, and being. And she has always brought that capacious and restless inquiry to her teaching, providing life-changing moments of intellectual formation for both undergraduate and graduate students.”

—Adapted from a story first published on the University of Chicago Law School website.

Who benefits from tariffs, according to research

Neil Weinberg — 09/18/2026 - 11:15am

Tariffs are usually debated as trade policy. But a study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business treats them as something else: a mechanism for redistributing wealth.

The tipping of the trade scale results in large monetary transfers from certain groups of workers to others, according to research led by Chicago Booth Prof. Rodrigo Adão.

Produced with Princeton University Asst. Prof. John Sturm Becko, and MIT professors Arnaud Costinot and Dave Donaldson, the study is grounded in the logic of quantifying who benefits financially, regardless of the reasons for the favoritism.

To understand the motivations behind such barriers, the researchers used United States data from 2017-19 as a base, broken down by each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. They observed transactions involving 21 industries with tradable products—as well as the services sector, whose output is not subject to tariffs and therefore served as a benchmark.

“U.S. tariffs end up representing a transfer from those employed in services to those employed in tradable sectors,” Adão said. “The variation in tariffs across goods creates larger or smaller gains across workers employed in different tradable sectors.”

The researchers then estimated how these tariffs affected imported products. Those estimates became the basis of a theoretical model, which the study validated with real data. The model was able to replicate the actual effects of the Trump administration’s 2018 tariff policy changes.

A key premise of this analysis is that the changes observed in real imports between 2017 and 2019 resulted from policymakers’ desire to favor some constituencies over others rather than from fundamental changes in the U.S. economy.

The winning workers

“Society values transfers to some individuals much more than others,” Adão said. “It designs trade policy in a manner that income transfers to some individuals, primarily those in preferred sectors, have a much higher social value than others.”

Indeed, had the tariffs not redistributed wealth, individuals at the 90th, 95th and 99th percentiles of the researchers’ estimates would have received lower real earnings—down by $538, $1,727 and $2,861, respectively. Individuals at the 10th percentile, by contrast, would have made $621 more.

These differences were largely driven by discrepancies in the tariffs’ effects on specific sectors, as policymakers seemingly favored some over others. The data indicate that income in the apparel, metals and vehicles sectors was worth 140% more to policymakers than the U.S. average. Certain states came out ahead: incomes in Florida, Vermont and Wyoming were valued above the U.S. average, but only by 7%.

The study’s results are consistent with the theory that lobbying plays a significant role in driving U.S. trade protection, the researchers write, saying it explains about one-fifth of the overall variation in financial gains and losses from tariffs across sectors and regions.

However, individuals from swing states did not appear to receive significantly higher benefits, raising doubts about the theory that efforts to curry favor with politically potent voters is a big driver of U.S. tariff policy.

—A version of this article originally appeared on the Chicago Booth Review website.

UChicago launches new master’s degree in applied AI

09/17/2026 - 09:00am

The University of Chicago is launching its first degree program dedicated exclusively to AI.

The Master of Science in Applied Artificial Intelligence program, which will be offered through the Physical Sciences Division and the Data Science Institute, will welcome its inaugural cohort in autumn 2027.

The new degree was developed for a changing AI landscape. Designed for students who already possess a strong technical foundation, the full-time, nine-month program combines advanced AI study with hands-on application.

“As generative AI advances at an unprecedented pace and AI agents become increasingly prevalent, there is a growing need for practitioners who can move beyond foundational machine learning and deep learning expertise and take the next step into the frontier of applied AI,” said Senior Instructional Prof. Arnab Bose, the faculty director of the program.

“This program is designed to bridge that gap, equipping students with the conceptual knowledge and practical skills to harness the capabilities of foundational models and AI agents in real-world settings.”

Moving beyond the fundamentals

Students will complete four core courses spanning AI foundations and principles; advanced architectures and applications; AI security, safety and governance; and value creation and leadership with AI.

From there, students choose five electives organized across three focus areas: AI in practice, frontier AI and performance AI. Students take at least one elective from each area, ensuring exposure to different dimensions of AI while leaving room to tailor the remainder of the curriculum to their interests. Elective offerings include courses in multi-modal agents, production AI, quantum computation, biomedicine, asset management and an AI practicum.

Students will put AI into practice from the very start of the program, tackling real-world problems across their courses and building a professional portfolio that demonstrates what they can do.

“From the first day of class, students are solving real problems, not preparing to someday solve them,” Bose said. “The curriculum weaves together rigorous AI theory and hands-on application, so that every concept learned is grounded in practice and every project is informed by first principles.”

That approach is also informed by faculty whose backgrounds span academic research, entrepreneurship and the development and deployment of AI in industry.

Batu Gundogdu, associate clinical professor in the new master’s in applied artificial intelligence program, said employers increasingly need AI professionals who can do more than understand the underlying technology. They need practitioners who can translate a business need into an AI solution, anticipate what can go wrong, test and refine their work and ultimately deliver.

“Every course in the program is designed as a use-case application: students build a working solution to a real problem while the underlying theory is introduced along the way, so the science is learned in the context where it will be used,” Gundogdu said.

Part of a growing AI ecosystem at UChicago

The new degree launches amid significant investment in artificial intelligence across UChicago.

In 2026, the University announced the Mansueto Faculty of Mind and Machine Challenge, a nearly $200 million initiative to recruit, retain and support 20 leading scholars using AI and computational approaches across disciplines.

UChicago is also expanding interdisciplinary AI research and education across fields ranging from the physical and biological sciences to economics, medicine, law and the arts and humanities.

The new master’s program brings that momentum into a new professional graduate experience within the Data Science Institute, preparing students to contribute to a field that will continue to evolve long after they graduate.

Students will study in person at UChicago’s downtown campus, placing them close to employers and off-site experiences in a global business and technology hub.

The inaugural master’s in applied artificial intelligence cohort will begin in autumn 2027, with the application portal opening in September 2026.

Space in the inaugural cohort will be limited. Prospective students can learn more about the program at its first virtual information session on Sept. 22.

—This article originally appeared on the Data Science Institute website.

Fifth annual South Side Science Festival returns Oct. 3 with curiosity and fun

Paul Dailing — 09/16/2026 - 02:30pm

The kids’ minds are blown, University of Chicago graduate student Madhumitha Prakash said, when yellow and blue don’t make green.

Each year for the past three years, the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) immunoengineering Ph.D. student has run a science demonstration for children showing off the weird properties of nanoscale interactions. She combines the two colors and asks the children what they think will happen.

“Usually what the kids are going to expect is you put yellow and blue together, you're going to get green,” Prakash said. “But then we teach them how fluids at the microfluidic scale operate at laminar flow. If you want to make green, you have to introduce these really cool geometries that basically switch up the flow and make it a little bit more turbulent.”

Prakash is preparing to confound and intrigue hundreds of local students and their families at the fifth annual South Side Science Festival, hitting UChicago’s campus on Oct. 3. The 2026 event will feature more than 600 students, postdoctoral researchers, staff and faculty presenting 130 demonstrations and sharing their love of science with the South Side community.

“While this is an incredibly fun event for all of the scientists and volunteers who put it on, I think folks take even more pride in being able to share the joy of science with the South Side and broader Chicago community,” said chemistry Assoc. Prof. John Anderson, one of the faculty organizers. “Our goal is to make a welcoming and inclusive festival for everyone, including across all age groups and interest levels.”

The hands-on event brings together STEM units across the University. Robots dance near replicas of early hominids, live jellyfish appear alongside fossils that have been dead for 300 million years and fruit frozen with liquid nitrogen (courtesy of Anderson, also known as “Dr. DiNitrogen”) shatters near arts-and-crafts tables where children paint with electrically conductive ink.

The festival is free and open to all. Registration is optional, but requested.

“The South Side Science Festival brings to life the idea that science is for everyone, giving people a chance to experience being a scientist through hands-on, creative demos and activities connected to their daily lives,” said human genetics Assoc. Prof. Maanasa Raghavan, one of the faculty organizers. “I’m especially looking forward to seeing families explore the activities together and enjoy the lively atmosphere that makes the day feel like a true community festival!”

In addition to representing her lab at the festival, Prakash enjoys the process so much that for the last few years she and her partner—also a UChicago STEM graduate student—have created their own additional display, an interdisciplinary demonstration from an interdisciplinary couple.

“He does lipid nanoparticle work and I do a lot of microbiology work,” Prakash said. “A lot of the demos that we did were about concepts at the intersection of our respective expertise.”

While the festival is a repeat adventure for Prakash, this year’s event will be the first for UChicago PME Asst. Prof. Ruben Verresen. The theorist is designing an interactive virtual demonstration to teach “some of the weirdest aspects of quantum physics.”

“I remember as a kid the sense of awe I would feel when I would learn a new peculiar fact of the universe,” Verresen said. “Gaining such knowledge almost felt mystical, knowing it was a fundamental principle that for some unknown reasons had to be obeyed everywhere throughout the universe.”

UChicago PME Assistant Dean of Education and Outreach Laura Rico-Beck said spurring that love of science takes a “two-fold approach.” Events such as the South Side Science Festival, lab internships for Chicago high schoolers and the No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair bring students to UChicago, while off-campus partnerships bring STEM programming to local schools, museums and other community organizations.

“We want people to see that science is something they can be part of, and that it’s already woven into the places, questions and experiences that shape their lives,” Rico-Beck said. “We get to share the science we love with the community we call home, and learn from the curiosity and questions of our neighbors. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate science together on the South Side.”

“Events like the South Side Science Festival celebrate the curiosity and creativity that exist across the South Side and beyond,” said UChicago PME Interim Dean Stuart Rowan. “It’s an opportunity to come together, share what we’re working on, learn from one another, and experience the excitement of science and engineering.”

Explore and register for the 2026 South Side Science Festival here.

—This article originally appeared on the UChicago PME website.

Eighteen students selected as 2026-27 University of Chicago Obama Foundation Scholars

09/15/2026 - 10:00am

Eighteen rising leaders have been selected to the newest cohort of the University of Chicago Obama Foundation Scholars Program, which was announced Sept. 15.

Drawn from communities around the world and across Chicago, this year’s cohort includes students from the Booth School of Business, the Harris School of Public Policy, and the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. The scholars’ wide-ranging areas of interest span public health, education access and criminal justice reform.

The UChicago Obama Foundation Scholars program focuses on helping students expand their work in their communities while exploring models for leadership and social change. Its emphasis on building real-world skills is rooted in a curriculum intended to foster new relationships, with networking opportunities and personalized support that extend beyond graduation.

“The University of Chicago Obama Foundation Scholars arrive with great talent and deep understanding of the issues that are most important to their communities, along with a commitment to bringing the best ideas and evidence to bear to address them,” Provost Katherine Baicker said. “Working alongside our faculty and with organizations across Chicago, this year’s scholars will strengthen the ambitious work they have already begun. The University of Chicago is proud to partner with the Obama Foundation to support these rising leaders and their vital work.”

Since its inception in 2018, the UChicago Obama Foundation Scholars program has supported 219 leaders from 74 countries. This year’s cohort from UChicago is already working to make a difference, both here and abroad—from expanding HIV screening on Chicago’s South Side to improving access to surgical care in Ghana.

“We are proud to welcome the newest class of University of Chicago Obama Foundation Scholars,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation. “Over the next year, they will sharpen their skills, expand their networks, and gain valuable insights and experiences to help expand opportunities for the organizations and communities they serve.”

Support for the UChicago Obama Foundation Scholars Program is being provided by BMO Harris Bank; Robert and Jane Clark; The Clayco Foundation; The Crown Family; The Harris Family Foundation; Rachel DeYoung Kohler and Mark S. Hoplamazian; The Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation; Charles Ashby Lewis and Penny Bender Sebring; The Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation; The Neubauer Family Foundation; and Susan Rustandy and Tandean Rustandy.

Read more about this year’s UChicago Obama Foundation Scholars below:

Booth School of Business

Sarah Assian — Chicago

Physician assistant, Cook County Health

Scaling sustainable, standardized HIV care infrastructure and advancing health equity by building cross-sector coalitions.

Vincent Buckman — Ghana

Former health care consultant, AArete

Improving access to timely surgical care in Ghana by strengthening collaboration between traditional health care providers, public health workers and hospitals.

Jared Jerrick — United States and Guyana

Former commissioned officer, U.S. Army

Fostering sustainable economic self-determination for youth in Guyana by establishing financial literacy programs and youth development hubs.

Jackson Montgomery — Chicago

Patient health advocate and research coordinator, UChicago Medical Center and the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination

Addressing public health diagnostic disparities on Chicago’s South Side by deploying innovative screening tools and establishing replicable citywide frameworks.

Ade Oparinu — Nigeria

Founder, PathShapers Africa

Empowering rural students in Nigeria through talent labs, extracurricular programs and incentive-driven tech programs.

Sanjeev Parameswaran — Chicago

Former senior consultant, AT&T

Building hiring pipelines into the corporate world to connect justice-impacted individuals with living-wage careers.

Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Hailey Aldrich — Chicago

Survivor fund associate, The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence

Preventing tenant displacement and advancing homeownership opportunities by championing community land trust models and bridging gaps between residents, advocacy and policy.

Mariah Cooley — Chicago

Program manager, UChicago Crime Lab

Reducing gun violence by training youth in conflict mediation and equipping community violence intervention leaders.

Alexia Estrada — Pasco, Washington

Former director of operations, Semillero de Ideas; co-founder, Cafe con Arte

Elevating agricultural professionals as key innovation leaders and creating culturally relevant mental health tools.

Anna Grant-Bolton — Evanston, Illinois

Outreach lead and steering committee organizer, Evanston Community Fridges

Bridging food distribution gaps in and around Chicago through mutual aid, grassroots community education and policy advocacy.

Joseph Mapp — Chicago

Director, Chicago Mayor’s Office of Reentry

Transforming the reentry process of formerly incarcerated people by establishing coordinated, gender-responsive public services to create pathways for dignity and opportunity.

Juliet Rowe — United States and United Kingdom

Director of development, OneGoal

Creating economic opportunities for young people by building sustainable cross-sector partnerships and scaling career expositions into regional workforce development infrastructures.

Harris School of Public Policy

Apollinaire Abi — Togo

Executive director, NawiriTech

Promoting evidence-based public policy across Africa by expanding data science training and establishing data partnerships with state agencies.

Jess Artis — Chicago

Founder, Home Wealth School

Advancing housing stability and preserving generational wealth for vulnerable communities through homeownership training and advocacy.

LeAaron Foley — Chicago

Regional head of government and community relations, Lime

Redesigning legacy transit and land-use systems by connecting private sector transit resources with community ideas and needs to build equitable urban policies across Chicago.

Kavita Rawat — India

Former senior project manager, Central Square Foundation

Tackling learning deficits among low-income primary students in India by integrating technology, teacher training and parent involvement through community hubs.

Bhavya Sharma — India

Former project lead, Integrated Leadership Forum Against Trafficking

Elevating survivor voices in anti-trafficking policy through a pioneering survivor-centric public policy model and AI-driven interventions for reintegration.

Booth School of Business and Harris School of Public Policy

Erica Choi — Chicago

Growth fellow, Fabric Health

Expanding social services to traditionally underserved families through tech-powered innovations and community-based solutions.

As World Cup referee, UChicago student tests Machiavelli’s vision of leadership

Chandler Calderon — 09/14/2026 - 12:50pm

Editor’s note: This story is part of Meet a UChicagoan, a regular series focusing on the people who make UChicago a distinct intellectual community.

During this summer’s FIFA World Cup, Joe Dickerson was carefully tracking the action on-field from a booth in an enormous convention center in Dallas.

Dickerson was a video assistant referee (VAR) during the tournament, supporting the officiating crew on the field by reviewing incidents on a wall of screens. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

“When your decision can impact a whole nation’s psychological well-being for at least a short period of time, yeah, that’s a significant amount of pressure and responsibility,” he said.

A long-time soccer referee, Dickerson is now applying his expertise on the pitch to a whole new field: studying Machiavelli’s philosophy of leadership in the University of Chicago Graham School’s master of liberal arts program.

Dickerson became interested in Machiavelli’s provocative ideas through a class on the philosophy of leadership he took during a residential seminar in Hyde Park. These weeklong sessions give remote students like Dickerson a chance to explore campus and connect with each other.

He was captivated by how “appalling” Machiavelli’s vision of leadership in The Prince is—characterized by cruelty and manipulation. However, Dickerson became interested in what a less literal reading of the text might yield.

By showing that this leadership style leads to revolt and disorder in the long term, Dickerson believes, Machiavelli might actually be making the case against it.

Dickerson is using refereeing as a case study in his master’s thesis to tease out this nuance in Machiavelli’s writing. A referee could lead through fear and deceit, “and this might work in certain situations, it might work in the short term,” Dickerson said, “but I suspect it does not work in the long term.”

Taking Ralph Waldo Emerson to FIFA

Dickerson’s journey to the World Cup started early. He officiated his first soccer game at age 10, inspired by a coach who insisted the whole team train in the laws of the game. It was a great way to make a little money and learn responsibility—“something my parents definitely enjoyed that I was doing,” he said—so Dickerson stuck with it throughout his teens.

In college this work took a back seat to his involvement with the University of California, Davis, crew team and cycling. After finishing there, as he pursued a professional cycling career, he continued refereeing on the side to support himself and eventually became a full-time referee at the highest level. In 2017, he began officiating with Major League Soccer and, since 2023, has worked for FIFA. In 2025 he was named U.S. Soccer Male Referee of the Year.

As his career progressed, Dickerson developed some clear ideas about what makes a referee great. On one of the long flights required for his job, he began seriously trying to articulate them. Reflecting on the confidence and autonomy needed in refereeing, he was reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” which he had read in high school, and pulled up a copy on his computer. He spent the rest of the flight reading and taking notes.

After that, eager for a meaningful pursuit outside of refereeing, he dove into the study of philosophy and decided to return to school to gain a deeper understanding of the field.

He first took classes through Stanford University’s Continuing Studies program before applying to the Graham School, where he was attracted to the balance between rigorous, personalized study and a flexible, affordable program.

“I could build my own personalized master’s experience,” he said.

The way students bring their diverse life experiences into the classroom is a key piece of what makes the Graham School’s master of liberal arts program so effective, said its director, Tim Murphy, AB’11, AM’14.

“Fascinating conversations” happen when you have “very intellectually curious, very intellectually serious people from those different perspectives in a room discussing big ideas,” Murphy said. “It’s kind of a magical dynamic.”

‘Refereeing through the lens of philosophy’

Dickerson has learned from experience that building trust on the field is crucial to managing players and coaches. This comes from a combination of body language, communication skills and empathy.

In a sport where the laws of the game leave a lot of room for interpretation, referees rely on what they call “football understanding,” an ability to take the broader context of the game into consideration when making calls.

“If you’re making decisions that don’t make sense to the players, to the coaches, to the commentators, to spectators, you have no ability to control the match, no matter how good you are at communicating with players,” he said.

Maintaining the level of intense focus that decision-making and player management requires is draining, he said, even more so than sprinting up and down the field for 90 minutes: “When I was working the Under-20 World Cup in Chile last year, after each match, I was lying on the locker room floor.”

In a way, he said, working in the VAR booth can be even more challenging, because when you’re on the field, people understand that there will be some level of human error; “but nobody accepts excuses for mistakes from the VAR, because how could you make a mistake when you’re looking at a video screen?” he said. On the field, he has the VAR as a safety net. “When I’m the VAR, I have no parachute.”

Despite the pressure, he got to have fun at the World Cup, too, attending six games and getting swept away by the fans’ enthusiasm and the surprises of the tournament.

“My expectations of how I would feel fell short of how massive the tournament is, how big of an impact every single incident has on entire countries,” he said. “Getting to experience that and seeing the cultures, especially some of these smaller countries that are there for the first time, was really incredible.”

It’s an experience he hopes to repeat in four years. When he steps on the field now, he does so as a philosopher.

“I can’t help but see some of the philosophy through the lens of refereeing and some of the refereeing through the lens of philosophy,” Dickerson said. “My studies have certainly broadened the way I think about how I interact with players, how I lead on the field, because at the end of the day, the best referee is undoubtedly the best leader.”

—A version of this article originally appeared in the Fall/26 University of Chicago Magazine.

With flowery name, new tool uncovers hidden genetic pathways that cause disease

Matt Wood — 09/11/2026 - 09:09am

One of the most important goals of studying genetics is to find genes that are involved with diseases.

The problem is that most diseases aren’t caused by a single gene or mutation. They’re the result of complex interactions among dozens—if not hundreds or thousands of genes—plus environmental factors, lifestyle and a host of other variables.

That flood of genes creates a needle-in-a-haystack problem of finding the most central drivers of disease that can be targeted with drugs.

But now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Chicago and Columbia University developed a new computational tool—named DANDELION—that could make the challenge of finding genes most directly related to disease much easier. In a paper published in Cell, they showed how this tool was able to identify 21 genes related to asthma, most of which hadn’t been discovered by other methods.

The researchers also used both CRISPR gene-editing screens and mouse models to validate that these genes lead to asthma phenotypes and demonstrated that two of the genes are in the same pathway involved in fatty acid metabolism and protein palmitoylation, which hasn’t yet been studied for asthma.

A flowering network of genetic effects

The new was named in reference to the puffy heads of dandelion flowers once they go to seed. The puffball resembles an interconnected, branching network of genes, ultimately pointing to the center of the core disease genes.

In complex diseases like asthma, many genetic variants may contribute to disease by changing the expression of other genes in a cascading effect. This creates what’s called a gene regulatory network that ultimately drives the development of disease.

However, existing approaches such as genome-wide association studies focus on genes that are often in the periphery of the gene regulatory network, and only indirectly affect disease.

“All these existing tools assume that the actual disease genes are always going to be very close to the disease variants, but when you search for clues around that variant, you don’t always find much,” said UChicago Asst. Prof. Xuanyao Liu, the paper’s co-senior author who developed DANDELION.

“What’s unique about our method is that we believe the disease genes are not just next to the genetic variants. They’re embedded in this gene regulatory network, and the actual disease-driving gene is downstream of those associated variants, maybe on different chromosomes. So, they’re on the receiving end of a genetic effect that is very far away.”

Liu analyzed a large set of data from the human transcriptome and the UK Biobank, a repository of health and genetic data from more than 500,000 volunteers. She used DANDELION to search for core disease genes for asthma and found 21 candidates, 19 of which have not been discovered before using other tools.

Liu also showed the data to Marcelo Nóbrega, the Haig P. Papazian Distinguished Service Professor of Human Genetics at UChicago, who has developed experimental platforms to manipulate the expression of genes in human cell types that are relevant to asthma. These include epithelial cells from the lining of the airways, inflammatory cells and immune T cells.

At first, he was skeptical.

“[Liu] showed me a list of genes, and we didn’t recognize almost any of them,” Nóbrega said. “I thought that either this is going to be really cool and groundbreaking or it’s going to be wrong. But we had the experimental validation system running, so I thought, ‘Let’s test them all.’”

Direct, measurable impacts

Nóbrega’s team, led by postdoctoral researcher Isabella Salamone, conducted a series of experiments to test the effects of the genes predicted by DANDELION.

Surprisingly, most of the genes Liu identified had a direct, measurable impact on the function of asthma-related cell types, producing phenotypes that model those seen in asthma at a much higher rate than any other genes in the genome that they also tested.

When Salamone looked more closely, she saw that two genes had opposite effects. Knocking out one gene called SLC27A3 protected against the effects of asthma in both epithelial and T cells, while knocking out another gene, SCD, contributed to disease. Looking at the effects of mutations of these genes in a large human cohort of almost half a million people, they found that mutations in SLC27A3 are protective of asthma, supporting their findings in their cellular phenotyping screens.

“We saw this really striking pattern,” Salamone said. “When we dug into patient data that had been collected by other labs, we saw the same pattern repeat itself.”

Intriguingly, both SLC27A3 and SCD are involved in the same biochemical pathway for fatty acid metabolism. To understand how this might be linked to asthma, they turned to chemical biologist Hening Lin, the James and Karen Frank Family Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at UChicago. Lin is a world-leading expert on the process, especially its role in the addition of a long-chain fatty acyl group to proteins that regulate protein activity.

Lin helped them confirm that both genes are involved in palmitoylation, and that reducing palmitoylation by knocking out SLC27A3 causes lung epithelial cells to dampen several immune-related and inflammatory processes.

“We know many immune signaling pathways are regulated by palmitoylation, but I am still amazed by the finding that disrupting a lipid metabolic protein, SLC27A3, could offer protection in asthma models at least in part via affecting protein palmitoylation,” Lin said.

Finally, to test whether these genetic, biochemical and cellular findings ultimately translate into asthma susceptibility, Salamone developed mice in which SLC27A3 or SCD were inactivated. They found that SLC27A3 knock-out mice are protected against allergy-induced lung inflammation, while SCD knock-out mice are more prone to lung inflammation compared to control mice. This demonstrated the new pathway the team uncovered is indeed capable of changing susceptibility to asthma.

A powerful, interdisciplinary collaboration

Liu said she is encouraged by this initial success and looks forward to testing it with other diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or Type 2 diabetes. Historically, one of the limitations of drug development has been finding the true protein targets for treatment. DANDELION has the potential to overcome this challenge by identifying new and more effective drug targets.

“We're really excited about this direction because for these diseases, [genome-wide association studies] have identified tons of signal, but we still don't know the actual disease-driving genes that we can target for therapies,” Liu said. “I think our collaboration has been really powerful because we closed the gap at both the computational level and the experimental level.”

Nóbrega emphasized the importance of this collaboration as well, especially the advantage of being able to confirm their findings with a leading expert such as Lin.

“None of this would have come to fruition if any one of us were working on this alone,” he said. “We would have three papers buried in separate journals and virtually nobody would know how to put these stories back together. So, the power of having this complementary expertise across the division is really important.”

The study, “Trans-regulatory gene mapping prioritizes disease drivers in asthma,” was primarily supported by the National Institutes of Health. Additional authors include Peixin Tian from the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, China; Zining Qi, Jiaqi Zhao, Li Zhang, Qilong Tan, Jinghui Li, Alexis G. Thornburg, Noboru J. Sakabe, Mark Minogue, Zachary T. Weber, Bohao Chen, Cezary Ciszewski, Xin He, Hardik Shah and Carole Ober from UChicago; Ashley N. Michael and Donata Vercelli from the University of Arizona; and co-senior author Zhonghua Liu from Columbia.

—This story originally appeared on the UChicago Biological Sciences Division website.

Kenneth Warren to deliver Aims of Education speech to Class of 2030

Colin Terrill — 09/10/2026 - 12:14pm

For many, “uncertainty” has become an era-defining word.

Rapid technological advances, shifting global landscape and even an unclear picture of what happens after college graduation has led to a feeling that the future is one big, looming question.

In his upcoming Aims of Education address, Prof. Kenneth Warren won’t attempt to provide all the answers—but he will try to help incoming students feel more empowered to press on even in the face of that doubt.

“I think there is a more pervasive sense of uncertainty that all students face nowadays,” said Warren. “However, I see that as a call to action for students to come to the defense of the education that they will receive here over the next four years and truly make the most of their UChicago journey.”

This year’s address, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 in Rockefeller Chapel, will be webcasted on the UChicago College’s YouTube channel and website.

When Warren steps up to the lectern, it will mark nearly 20 years since his first Aims of Education address in 2007. While he knows he couldn’t give the same speech today that he did then, Warren views it as an opportunity to show how the mission of the University has never wavered in the face of change.

“A UChicago education has always put importance on a familiarity with various areas of intellectual activity no matter what you want to specialize in,” he said. “That still stands true today even as students deal with the clashing of artificial intelligence and traditional learning and curiosity.”

Warren began his UChicago tenure in 1991 and is currently the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor of English and Literature and associate chair of the department of English in the College. He has authored or edited several publications focusing on American and African American literature from the late 19th century through the middle of the 20th century and received the Quantrell Award, believed to be the nation’s oldest prize for undergraduate teaching, in 2005.

While being asked to deliver the Aims address by Dean Melina Hale for the second time “drove home how old he is getting and how long he’s been at UChicago,” the recognition was still not lost on him.

“It’s always an honor and a special opportunity to address the newest incoming class that will develop their minds in the College over the next four years,” he said

Warren knows that uncertainty and threats facing the idea of a liberal education are nothing new—the Aims of Education address started in 1961 as a response to these factors, after all—the defense against them will always be the same.

“Many of the talks presented in this series have responded to the various attacks on the attempt to achieve this liberality of mind through reading books and learning science,” he said. “Perhaps unavoidably, I will be addressing how even though these challenges have evolved, there still is an importance to understand and know how scholars, writers and thinkers from all disciplines approach the world.”

—This article originally appeared on the UChicago College website.

UChicago launches $300 million initiative for students from rural areas and small towns

Katelyn Yoshimoto — 09/09/2026 - 06:06am

The University of Chicago on Sept. 9 announced the launch of a long-term initiative to expand college and career opportunities for students from rural and small-town communities across the United States.

The Trott Center for Excellence in Rural America is anchored by a $100 million gift from Trott Family Philanthropies, the foundation of Trustee Byron Trott, AB'81, MBA'82, and Tina Trott. In addition to the Trotts’ investment, the initiative will include funds raised from new gifts across the UChicago community, as well as funds the University will commit to this important priority, combining for a total of $300 million to support students from rural and small-town America.

This reinforces UChicago’s commitment to access through its prestigious Odyssey Scholarship Program and distinctive educational environment, which brings together students and scholars with diverse perspectives.

“We are deeply grateful to Byron and Tina Trott for this special gift. The University of Chicago has long believed that our academic excellence goes hand in hand with expanding opportunity to intellectually rigorous and curious students from every community,” said President Paul Alivisatos. “The Trott Center reflects our commitment not only to enrolling talented rural students, but to equipping them with the academic support, networks and experiences needed for them to thrive academically and become leaders in all areas of civil society and parts of the country.”

The Trott Center will expand financial aid and serve as a coordinating hub for academic preparation, student development and career pathway programming. It will support students from small towns and rural communities with early outreach and advising for college that will continue through and after graduation, preparing them with the skills and experiences needed for career success.

“There is extraordinary undiscovered talent in rural America. Too often, young people simply are not aware of the opportunities available to them or prepared to pursue them,” said Trott. “We want to help change that. Over the last eight years, we have learned a great deal about how to connect with these students earlier, prepare them for what comes next and open doors that might otherwise remain out of reach. The Trott Center is about taking those lessons further and giving more young people the chance to reach their full potential with a world-class education and career opportunities.”

Expanding access and strengthening career pathways

Students from rural communities graduate from high school at rates comparable to their metropolitan peers, yet are less likely to enroll in and graduate from leading residential four-year colleges and universities.

This gift will fund early outreach and academic preparation programs in rural high schools, as well as expand financial aid for students from rural areas and small towns at UChicago. Financial aid for these students, and all UChicago undergraduates, is loan-free.

Recognizing that access alone does not ensure long-term success, the Trott Center will expand academic support and services, mentorship, leadership development and career support at UChicago. It will create structured internships and experiential learning opportunities to develop the professional skills, networks and experiences needed for careers, graduate study, entrepreneurship and public service.

Building on a national commitment to rural opportunity

The Trott Center builds upon work that began in 2018, when Trott asked UChicago leaders how many rural and small-town students attended the College. That question helped catalyze a broader effort to expand rural opportunity, with measurable results—first-year enrollment of students from small towns and rural areas at UChicago has grown 160% in the past decade.

“The University of Chicago changed the trajectory of my life, and Tina and I want more young people from rural communities to have that same opportunity,” said Trott. “What is powerful about this effort is that it does not stop at opening the door to college. It helps students build the skills, relationships and pathways to careers that can change their lives and strengthen communities across the country.”

Trott’s BDT & MSD Partners supported the founding of rootEd Alliance in 2018, which has embedded dedicated college and career advisors in 340 rural high schools across six states to expand postsecondary access and economic opportunity. In 2019, he helped establish the Emerging Rural Leaders program at UChicago, a week-long summer enrichment program for rising high school juniors and seniors on campus in Hyde Park.

In 2023, he made a $20 million gift to launch the STARS College Network, a coalition of colleges and universities committed to expanding rural access and support, housed at UChicago. In 2024, an additional $50 million gift enabled STARS to expand to 32 member institutions. Through this gift, STARS will expand members, advising and programming across the network.

Strengthening communities and the national workforce

Trott’s gift builds upon his longstanding commitment to increasing opportunities and access for students in rural America, inspired by the ways in which his UChicago experience transformed his own journey, which began in small-town Union, Missouri.

His philanthropy has aimed to level the playing field for students living outside the nation’s major metro areas and to create more opportunities for rural students. He has also helped encourage an approach that reaches students early, stays with them throughout and beyond college, and removes a wide array of disparate obstacles that can put rural and small-town students at a disadvantage.

As the Trott Center grows, the University of Chicago aims to deepen partnerships with secondary educators, employers and peer institutions to expand pathways from rural communities to leadership roles across the country. By broadening access and preparation, the initiative seeks to advance individual economic mobility while strengthening the long-term vitality of rural communities and the national workforce.

—Learn more about how you can support the work of the Trott Center.

New study shows reward can spread through complex memory networks

Tori Lee — 09/04/2026 - 02:01pm

Dinner last Friday was a hoot. Wine and conversation flowed; dishes were perfectly seasoned. The reward center of your brain lit up like the Fourth of July.

This week you have a decision to make: where to eat? The choices are infinite. Remembering last week’s raving success, you quickly make a reservation at a restaurant owned by the same chef.

Studies show that rewards—food, social events, money—spread through our memories, creating a mental treasure map of associations. These associations help us decide whether a new choice might lead to something good.

But how many mental steps can a reward travel? Your brain might associate the same chef with a great night out, but what about the same neighborhood? Or the song that was playing on the ride over?

In a new study published Aug. 8 in Cognition, psychologists at the University of Chicago looked at how many jumps a reward can travel in our memory.

Turns out, pretty far.

“The idea that reward spreads through memory is not a new one,” said Asst. Prof. Akram Bakkour, who led the study alongside first author and UChicago graduate student Seoyoung Lee. “But we show that reward can spread through relatively complex memory structures more so than previously thought.”

Mental gymnastics

To test how far a reward can travel, researchers first built a map.

At each point of the map, Lee and Bakkour placed a colorful disc (think pogs if you’re a ‘90s kid) with a unique pattern. Each disc was connected to two others, creating a web-like network—an approximation of how memories get grouped and associated in our minds. Some were more tightly grouped in a “community,” while others maintained only a single, weaker connection.

With the map now built, it was time to test if people could remember it.

Importantly, participants never saw the whole network. Instead, they were shown linked discs either in pairs or one at a time as they were “walked” through the map at random.

“We've really blown up the complexity of this problem,” said Bakkour, whose lab’s mission is to understand how memory supports decision making.

After viewing about 1,000 sequences of images on their screens, participants were quizzed on what they thought the map looked like. Researchers asked them to group images in a way that made sense to them, then draw lines between them.

The maps they remembered weren’t perfect, but participants picked up on a key detail—the clustered “communities” of images.

“They're very bad at the line drawing, and they're only somewhat good at grouping them,” Bakkour explained. “But we do have evidence that they group items that are within the community. That's our main measure of learning.”

Reward unlocked

With the mental map now locked in, it was time to introduce the reward.

In another experiment, researchers deemed one random disc “the reward,” demarcated with a green dollar sign. After viewing the patterned discs one at a time, participants were asked to choose which ones were most likely to lead to a reward.

What researchers expected was that participants would choose the colorful discs within the same community as the reward. Likewise, they guessed that the further from the reward a disc was, the less likely participants would choose to associate it with the reward.

Their hypothesis was confirmed, with one major caveat.

Participants chose discs nearest the reward, even several steps away, but only based on their memory of the map, not the actual map. And their memories weren’t always accurate.

“It's an interesting little twist,” Bakkour said. “We know memory is not perfect; there are distortions that get inserted. Our argument is that there is a spread of reward that is graded, but based on what's in their mind, not what we taught them.”

The research team notes that if participants learned the map over a longer period of time, or even slept between sessions, their recall might improve. But even in 40-minute sessions, people were able to build a linking chain of memories leading them to treasure.

According to Bakkour, this is even more proof of how amazing our memories are. In unfamiliar situations, our minds can leap between memories and generalizations to help us navigate infinite possibilities.

“We can’t experience everything in the world,” Bakkour said. “But having this intricate, complex memory system allows us to reminisce and imagine the future in service of making the best decisions.”

Citation: Lee, S., & Bakkour, A. (2026). Reward selectively preserves relational structure in memory. Cognition, 277, 106673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2026.106673