Letter from the Chair

Dear Alumni and Friends of Physics and Astronomy,

Welcome to the 2024-2025 academic year! The past year was one of excitement for our department and I am writing to share several of our successes and good news with you.

This year, we again celebrated several awards and promotions. Professor Yuanyuan Su was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with Tenure and was also awarded the 2024 Early Career Prize from the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society. Professor Y.T. Cheng (joint faculty appointment with Materials Engineering) was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Graduate student Mubasshir (Mubi) Khan won the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. Two of our undergraduate students, Asa O’Neal and Hena Kachroo, were awarded prestigious Goldwater Graduate Fellowships.

Last year, 10 graduate students were awarded Ph.D. degrees and are going on to outstanding positions in academia and industry. In addition, we celebrated the achievements of our undergraduate physics majors. Many of these have contributed to our department’s research, and our Summer REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program, headed by Professor Christopher Crawford, has been funded by the National Science Foundation for an additional three years. This year also marked the retirement of Professor Steven Yates (joint faculty appointment with Chemistry), the long-time Director of the UK Accelerator Lab.

This newsletter contains profiles of our newest faculty members, Condensed Matter Theorist Professor Chunli Huang and Astrophysicist Professor Ryan Sanders. Professor Terry Draper describes some of the highlights of his years of research (in collaboration with recent Emeritus Professor Keh-Feh Liu) in Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics. Professor Joe Straley discusses the history of our Physics Petting Zoo, which he started over 25 years ago and continues to educate and delight students throughout Kentucky. As in the past, we are also excited to share alumni updates as well: I invite you to learn more about the paths of two or our graduate alumni, Dr. John Gruenwald, Ph.D. 2017 and Dr. Tony Popescu, Ph.D. 2001, and undergraduate alumnus Jake Gamsky, B.S. 2011.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter, and I look forward to hearing from you. We would be pleased to welcome you for a visit of the renovated Chemistry-Physics Building.

With best wishes,

Brad Plaster

Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy

New Faculty

Chunli Huang brings a rich background in theoretical condensed matter physics from around the globe. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised in Malaysia, Huang earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Material Science and Engineering from the National University of Singapore and completed his Ph.D. at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. He held two postdoctoral positions—first at the University of Texas at Austin under a Ministry of Science and Technology fellowship from Taiwan, followed by a one-year stint at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Assistant Professor Ryan Sanders joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the fall of 2023. He completed a B.S. degree in physics at the University of Louisville in 2012. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2018 before moving to the University of California, Davis, as a postdoctoral scholar. In 2020, Dr. Sanders was awarded a prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship which he held at UC Davis until he joined the University of Kentucky in 2023.

Physics Petting Zoo

“The great thing about a hands-on event is that people of different knowledge levels learn different things. Children will meet something they hadn’t noticed; physics professors find out that the laws of physics actually work.” ~Professor Joe Straley

Student Spotlight: Asa O'Neal

UK senior and astronaut scholar revels "most impactful award" he's ever received.

Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at the University of Kentucky

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the accepted theory of the strong (nuclear) force, which together with the weak and electromagnetic forces is described theoretically within the Standard Model of particle physics, which (despite occasional, exciting, tantalizing, but so far ephemeral exceptions) has been able to account for experimental observation. A major challenge of such tests of the Standard Model and the seeking of experimental signatures of possible beyond Standard Model theories is in the theoretical difficulty of calculating processes involving QCD.

Alumni Profiles

Dr. John Gruenewald

(M.S. '13, Ph.D. '17)

Before entering the University of Kentucky in the fall of 2010, I had some prior exposure to experimental condensed matter research but knew I had much to learn for understanding its intricate theory. By the summer of 2012, I decided to join Prof. Ambrose Seo’s thin film oxides lab.

My research with Prof. Seo proved to be instrumental in acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for my career.

Tony Popescu (Ph.D. '01)

I joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy as a graduate student in the fall of 1993. I graduated from the University of Bucharest, Romania, in 1989, the year of the great transformations in Eastern Europe that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Before that time, the very idea of studying abroad was an inaccessible dream for most people in my country. So, the simple fact that I found myself in Lexington, KY, USA, on a university campus to embark on Ph.D. studies, felt very special and almost miraculous to me.

Jake Gamsky

(B.S. w/Honors'11)

After my baseball career at Georgetown College fizzled out, I transferred to UK in the fall of 2009. This change brought me to the Department of Physics and Astronomy and changed the trajectory of my career. I participated in exciting astronomy research with Dr. Wilhelm, I struggled through Dr. Gardner’s quantum class, presented research at a conference in Hawaii, and attended the International Space University through UK’s Huffaker Scholarship and the American Astronautical Society Scholarship.

Congratulations to Our Recent Ph.D. Graduates

Abdulhakim Alnuqaydan (Eides), “Symbolic Computation of Squared Amplitudes in High Energy Physics with Machine Learning”, Faculty Qassim University (Saudi Arabia).

David Bowles (Crawford), “Magnetic Spin Transport Coils for the n2EDM Experiment”.

Chamani Gunasekera (Ferland), “Exploring the Hot and Gaseous Universe from Infrared to X-Ray”, postdoc at Space Telescope Science Institute.

Jacob Hempel (Cheng), Mechanical and Morphological Characterization of Energy Materials by Nanoindentation and Scanning Probe Microscopyy", postdoc at Texas A&M.

Xihan Ji (Yan), “A Multidimensional View on the Emission-line Diagnostics of the Warm Ionized Gas in Nearby Galaxies”, postdoc at University of Cambridge (England).

Ahmed Khalifa (Murthy), “Aspects of Topology in Moiré Graphene”, postdoc at Carnegie-Mellon U.

Lingadahalli Muralidhara (Gardner), “QCD Analysis of Flavor-Nonchanging hadronic Weak Processes through Next-to-Leading Order”, CV Raman Fellow, Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore)

Bhamiti Sharma (Cheng), “Exploring the Possibility of Using Zeolite to Improve Lithium-Based Battery Performance and Durability”

Sujan Shrestha (Seo), Investigations of Epitaxial Heterostructures of Layered Iridates with Resonant X-Ray Techniques”, Postdoc, UK.

Chenyu Zhao (Yan), “The Radial Quenching Progression of Nearby Galaxies”, financial position at Maipu Holdings (Chengdu, China).

Contributions to the Physics and Astronomy Development Fund play a vital role in addressing student needs, attracting world-class faculty, and creating innovative opportunities that prepare our students to excel in the global marketplace.

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Department of Physics & Astronomy | 177 Chem-Phys Bldg., 506 Library Drive | 859-257-6722