The National Research Council rankings of graduate programs has placed UH Mānoa Department of Physics and Astronomy in the top 12 of all US programs. The department has an extensive laboratory and classroom building, Watanabe Hall. It has about 37,000 square feet of research and teaching laboratories, shops, classrooms with special demonstration facilities, and student study rooms. The Institute for Astronomy building, located above the Mānoa campus, is a greatly expanded facility for research in astronomy and astrophysics.
Academic Programs
Latest News
New UHM Physics Professors, Siqi Li and Peter Lewis, win DOE EPSCOR grants
New UH Manoa Physics Assistant Professors Siqi Li and Peter Lewis win DOE EPSCOR grants. Assistant Professor Li awarded $994,320 over the next four years to study how electrons and light interact in a free-electron laser. At the same time, Assistant Professor Peter Lewis has also been awarded $906,897 to investigate further gaseous detectors that can detect particles in various fields, from dark matter to particle physics.
A new detection system could determine whether extracted materials from nuclear reactors are for weapons.
Professor John Learned co-authored a detailed detector system in a new AIP Advances study. The new detector system for nuclear reactors could help officials determine whether materials from the reactor were re-purposed to make weapons.
Physics Professor Philip von Doetinchem awarded a $600,000 grant from National Science Foundation
University of Hawai’i at Manoa Physics Professor Professor Philip von Doetinchem’s Cosmic Ray Antiparticle (CRA) group has been awarded a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The team members, Dr. P. von Doetinchem, postdoctoral researcher Anirvan Shukla, and graduate students Bobby Lyon and Ammar Bayyari, use machine learning advanced data analysis techniques to investigate rare antiparticles from data obtained with the upgraded AMS-02.
Department of Physics and Astronomy machinist approaches 60 years of service
Roy Tom has been a valuable member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy as a machinist since June 1967. He has manufactured sophisticated equipment for various physics research groups. Roy’s exceptional dedication and expertise continue to advance the department’s research capabilities and smooth operation.
Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) to unlock secrets of the universe.
Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) advances to to solve the biggest questions of the universe. Physics Professor Jelena Maricic and her group are responsible for the calibration of the detectors to validate and fine tune their performance.
Dr. David Eder received National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant.
Affiliate graduate faculty Dr. David Eder and team received National Science Foundation RAPID award. The grant is for Maui College students to outreaching to the community and Maui organizations/government to collect information about wind conditions and fire propagation during the Lahaina fire in August, to tune and assess our high performance computing (HPC) wind/fire models. We can then use these models to explore how a rebuilt Lahaina would better survive the exact same very rare but extremely strong wind storm if a similar fire was launched again. This can aid in determining water resources needed, etc.