
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.

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Latest News

Department of Physics and Astronomy played an important role on global lighning
UHM Department of Physics and Astronomy played an important role on global lightning by hosting one of WWLLN (World Wide Lightning Location Network) stations. The increased lightning strokes above 65 degree latitudes appears to be a result of global warming.
Lightning in the Arctic and also see the AGU press release

$570K grant to study scarce particles, dark matter
The Cosmic-Ray Antinuclei (CRA) group under the guidance of Associate Professor Philip von Doetinchem received a major boost from the National Science Foundation. The three-year, $568,586 grant will enhance the group’s work to help the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 experiment (AMS-02) at the International Space Station.

$700K advances microchip technology research
A series of awards totaling $700,000 from Nalu Scientific to the Department of Physics and Astronomy will support training and work on high performance microchip technology of Prof. Gary Varner’s research group. The funding is part of a $2.3 million grant awarded to the Honolulu-based technology firm by the U.S. Department of Energy to continue its work on high-performance electronics development.

P&A Postdoc Kevin Croker gives extended interview on This Week in Science
Dr. Kevin Croker, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, was recently interviewed by This Week In Science about his team’s work on GEneric Objects of Dark Energy (GEODEs). GEODEs are very similar to Black Holes, except that they contain Dark Energy and have no “one way” layers or singularities.

UHM Physics Professor Jason Kumar is on the cutting edge of dark matter research
Professor Jason Kumar co-authored a Physical Review Letter’s paper “Explaining the XENON1T Excess with Luminous Dark Matter“.

Professor Sandip Pakvasa has Passed Away
Sandip, a resident of Honolulu for the past 54 years, and recently retired as world renowned and much beloved Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii, passed away peacefully at Kalakaua Gardens Nursing home on Thursday September 24, 2020.