C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics

On September 16, the 2025 C.N. Yang Colloquium of the Department of Physics and Astronomy was delivered by Nobel laureate Dieder Queloz on "Exoplanets and Life in the Universe".  Professor Queloz, who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of exoplanets, is director of the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe, University of Cambridge and of the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life, ETH Zurich.   The colloquium was held at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, and presented a panoramic view of the first signs of exoplanets, the varieties of observations and the prospects for the detection of life.  The annual C.N. Yang Colloquia are cosponsored by the Yang Institute, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Simons Center.

Graduate student Megan McDuffie, who is working with Rouven Essig as advisor on several aspects of dark matter theory and detection, has been awarded a 2025 Marburger Fellowship.   The Institute is proud of her achievements and recognition.

https://www.stonybrook.edu/grad/tuition_funding/graduate-school-programs/graduate-awards/#/awardees%202025

The Stony Brook Board of Trustees has established an early-career faculty award to recognize and support exceptionally promising early career faculty, including $20,000 in research support.   The Institute is proud that Vivian Miranda's work in theoretical cosmology, and her creative proposal for employing these funds for student research experience and career development.

https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/five-early-career-faculty-win-stony-brook-trustees-faculty-awards/

YITP faculty member Patrick Meade has been named a 2024 Fellow of the  American Physical Society.   This honor is extended to a small number of Society members annually for distinguished contributions to research and the national scientific community.   Patrick's citation recognizes his "pioneering research and leadership in particle theory and phenomenology, including signatures of gauge-mediated supersymmetry, top partners, long-lived particles, Higgs sectors, phase transitions of the early universe, and the science capabilities of proposed facilities."   Patrick arrived in Stony Brook in 2009, and much of Patrick's work since then has been with students and postdocs here at the Institute.   See here for the university's announcement.