News
School of Physics and Astronomy

The public will soon get its first glimpse at images from the most powerful observational instrument ever made. NASA will reveal the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images and spectra on July 12. RIT faculty closely involved with JWST will make media appearances to explain the significance of this momentous scientific achievement.

New Scientist talks to Jeyhan Kartaltepe, assistant professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, about the James Webb Space Telescope's first scientific images. (This content requires a subscription to view.)

Dean Sophia Maggelakis will be leaving RIT to become the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Maggelakis joined RIT as an assistant professor in 1990, became head of the School of Mathematical Sciences in 2001, and became dean of the College of Science in 2010.

A team of RIT scientists is poring over NASA data for new insights about Earth’s youngest, closest neighbors. Joel Kastner, a professor in RIT’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science and School of Physics and Astronomy, received nearly $400,000 for a NASA archival study to advance our understanding of newly formed stars and planets.

Astrophysical sciences and technology Ph.D. student Olivia Young earned a competitive fellowship from the National Science Foundation to develop machine learning algorithms that will help scientists use radio telescopes to study transient objects such as pulsars and fast radio bursts.

RIT students can soon begin earning a minor in an emerging field that could disrupt the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. RIT students can now take classes toward a minor in quantum information science and technology.

Associate Professor Ben Zwickl will head to the University of Oslo this fall to research what he calls one of the most understudied aspects of the undergraduate physics curriculum.

RIT is inviting the community to come watch the moon as it tries to hide in the Earth’s shadow. The RIT Observatory will host an open house from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on May 15 that is free and open to the public.

RIT graduate degree programs in engineering, science, and business were featured in the U.S. News & World Report 2023 edition of Best Graduate Schools, released in March.

Students and faculty from the exercise science program are using high-speed cameras, motion capture technology, and other sensors to analyze the motions of RIT baseball players as they swing the bat.

ScienceNews talks to Michael Zemcov, associate professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, about discrepancies in extragalactic background light.

Space.com features Jeyhan Kartaltepe, assistant professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy.