Department physics

Bin Chen, associate professor of physics and researcher at NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR), has been awarded the 2023 Karen Harvey Prize from the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for “significantly advancing” our understanding of the fundamental physics driving the largest explosions in our solar system — solar flares.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has bestowed on NJIT alumna General (retired) Ellen M. Pawlikowski the 2022 Arthur M. Bueche Award. Pawlikowski joins distinguished professor Louis Lanzerotti as the second Highlander to receive the award.

Transitioning back from a world of COVID lockdowns and restrictions has meant something different for everyone, but for Denise Richard and the Peace Corps, a “return to normal” will soon mean resuming humanitarian efforts more than 7,000 miles away in Africa. This month, the NJIT alumna is joining the first wave of Peace Corps volunteers to restart overseas service since the agency’s global evacuation at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers from Santa Clara University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Hong Kong have been able to successfully teach microrobots how to swim via deep reinforcement learning, marking a substantial leap in the progression of microswimming capability.

Solar flares are among the most violent explosions in our solar system, but despite their immense energy — equivalent to a hundred billion atomic bombs detonating at once — physicists still haven’t been able to answer exactly how these sudden eruptions on the Sun are able to launch particles to Earth, nearly 93 million miles away, in under an hour.

Alongside the wave of excitement at Commencement 2022, NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts recently decorated their star students at its annual awards ceremony.

Here, a diverse group of graduates who shared CSLA’s Outstanding Student Award look back on their NJIT journey and the successes they’ll take with them.

On May 4, celebratory glasses were raised at the signature year-end awards ceremony for NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts (CSLA), where the incredible milestone of the college’s 40th anniversary served as backdrop to the festivities.

Satoshi Inoue, assistant professor of physics and member of the Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) at NJIT, is investigating a mysterious connection between two of space’s most powerful explosions as part of a new CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

Inoue joins a select group of researchers by earning the CAREER award — one of the NSF’s most prestigious awards designed to support early-career researchers and their development as faculty-mentors. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has appointed Wenda Cao, physics professor and director of the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) of NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR), to its Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC). 

New findings published Jan. 27 in the journal Nature Astronomy have called into question decades of theoretical understanding used by astrophysicists to interpret an observational phenomenon central to understanding energy released during powerful eruptions from the Sun, known as solar flares.