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
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Public lecture: “How to Know a Neutrino from a Hole in the Ground!” by Nobel Laureate Professor Emeritus Art McDonald, SNOLab
Date: Friday, April 25
Time: 4:30 PM
Location: Bilger 152, University of Hawaii
To understand what’s above, some particle physicists are seeking answers below the Earth. Nobel Laureate and Queen’s Professor Emeritus Arthur McDonald will lecture on the topic of how researchers are uncovering the nature of the Universe and neutrinos from underground laboratories including SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada.
Dr. McDonald received the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics and shared in the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for a discovery that redefined the basic laws of particle physics: neutrinos have mass.
STEAM on the Bookshelf program expands with new funding
The S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Mathematics) on the Bookshelf program is expanding with new funding from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). The program is to introduce Hawaiʻi preschool keiki and their ʻohana (families) to STEAM concepts with heads-on learning initiatives. Physics instructor Chad Junkermeier heard from parents in the programs that their children are now reading the books to younger siblings.
Department of Physics & Astronomy hosted distinguished accelerator physicist Vladimir Shiltsev.
Department of Physics & Astronomy hosted distinguished accelerator physicist Vladimir Shiltsev. His visit created an opportunity for students and faculty to jointly brainstorm on expanding the potential of UH Mānoa’s electron linear accelerator housed in Watanabe Hall. The accelerator is undergoing technical upgrades by Professor Peter Gorham and Assistant Professors Siqi Li and Niels Bidault. The machine is expected to accelerate beams later this year and contribute to many scientific research fields.
UH Mānoa physics research group makes waves in Quanta
Professor Susanne Still and her research group, recently featured in Quanta Magazine, study how systems process information to make decisions. Professor Still’s team studies “information engines,” versions of heat engines, and the strategies by which these engines collect and use information to directly impact their energy efficiency.
Space Weather Stations
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa held a blessing for two new neutron monitor stations atop Haleakalā on January 8, 2025. The two stations are the Haleakalā Neutron Monitor Station (HLEA) and the Thailand-Hawaiʻi Monitor (THIMON) and funded by a $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant. The ribbon-cutting ceremony of the neutron monitor facility was preceded by a workshop attended by more than 40 scientists from around the world, from Europe and Asia to South America.
Machinist Roy Tom was awarded Jean Takamura Staff Excellence Endowment Fund.
The physics department’s machinist, Roy Tom, was awarded the Jean Takamura Staff Endowment Fund for his exceptional dedication and service.