Stay informed about our group's research highlights, notable achievements, and key activities. Below, you'll find news from 2024.

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2024

• 12/23/2024
  We have some fantastic news to share: let's all congratulate Xoán Mayo López on receiving and accepting a postdoctoral fellowship at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics! Congratulations, Xoán!

  
• 12/12/2024
  We bid farewell to Xoán Mayo López from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, who arrived at UCLA on September 28. During his visit, we accomplished a lot together: one paper was completed, several projects are now underway, and he delivered an excellent seminar to conclude his stay. Many thanks to Professor Carlos A. Salgado for sending such a talented and collaborative student. We look forward to more fruitful collaborations in the future!

  
• 12/11/2024
  Robert Kao successfully passed his qualifying oral exam this afternoon and has officially advanced to PhD candidacy. Congratulations!

  
• 12/05/2024
  Luke Sellers has won the Outstanding TA Award from the department for the second year in a row! Huge congratulations to Luke!
• 12/05/2024
  Fidele Twagirayezu successfully defended his thesis this morning! We can now officially call him Dr. Twagirayezu - huge congratulations!

  
• 11/28/2024
  Jani Penttala participated in the Light Cone 2024 conference, where he presented his recent research findings.
• 11/03/2024
  At UCLA’s Exploring Your Universe 2024 today, the largest campus science fair, Zhongbo presented a public lecture “In Rutherford’s Footsteps: What Makes Up Everything Around Us?” Postdoc Jani Penttala, together with graduate student Diego Padilla, led a Particle Physics booth featuring a miniature cloud chamber, where visitors had the opportunity to observe the fascinating tracks of subatomic particles.

  
• 10/17/2024
  Zhongbo presented a colloquium titled “Quantum Imaging of the Proton: New Windows into the Strong Force” at UC Riverside’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
• 10/16/2024
  We just took a new group photo! It’s always wonderful to capture these moments together. Everyone looks fantastic, don’t you think?
• 10/10/2024
  John Terry, a former graduate student at UCLA and now a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, delivered this year’s Fanyi Zhao Memorial Lecture today. His talk, titled “Imaging the Building Blocks of the Universe”, offered valuable insights into 3D imaging of the nucleus and concluded with fond recollections and personal memories of Fanyi Zhao.

  
• 09/30/2024
  Excited to welcome Xoán Mayo López, a graduate student from Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, working with Prof. Carlos Salgado. He'll be joining us for the entire quarter - looking forward to great collaborations ahead.
• 09/26/2024
  Zhongbo delivered a colloquium titled “Strong Interaction Physics at the Electron-Ion Collider” at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Los Angeles.

  
• 09/18/2024
  Many thanks to Dr. Shohini Bhattacharya from Los Alamos National Laboratory for her wonderful visit and the insightful seminar she delivered. Her time at UCLA was filled with engaging discussions and valuable exchanges of ideas. We truly appreciate her contributions and look forward to future collaborations!

  
• 08/30/2024
  Our group recently enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a local Persian restaurant, sharing great food, excellent company, and lively conversations about our latest projects and ideas in physics. While not everyone could attend, those who did had a fantastic time together!
• 08/13/2024
  Special thanks to Prof. Tuomas Lappi from the University of Jyväskylä for a wonderful visit and insightful discussions.

  
• 08/08/2024
  Congratulations to incoming graduate student Noah Moran for receiving UCLA's Competitive Edge Fellowship from the Graduate Division, which supports his research during the summer before his first year.

  
• 07/27/2024
  Our graduate student, Diego Padilla, participated in the 36th National Nuclear Physics Summer School (NNPSS), held from July 15 to 26, 2024, at Indiana University, Bloomington. For more information about the school, click here.
• 07/03/2024
  Zhongbo served once again this year on the 2025 APS Division of Nuclear Physics Dissertation Award Committee.

  
• 06/29/2024
  Jani Penttala delivered two lectures at the Midsummer School in QCD 2024, held in Saariselkä, Finland, from June 28 to 29, 2024. The lectures were well-received, and we congratulate Jani on his excellent presentations!

  
• 06/15/2024
  Our graduate student, Luke Sellers, participated in the 2024 CFNS Summer School on the Physics of the Electron-Ion Collider, held at Stony Brook University from June 3 to 14, 2024.
• 06/10/2024
  Many thanks to Drs. Wenyang Qian and Meijian Li from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for a productive visit. Over the course of one and a half months, they gave insightful lectures on quantum simulations, delivered engaging seminars, and collaborated on research projects with our group. Their contributions have been invaluable, and we look forward to continuing the collaboration.

  
• 12/19/2024
  Many thanks to Dr. Joao Barata from Brookhaven National Laboratory for visiting us and giving a nice seminar at UCLA. We truly appreciated the engaging discussions and the insights he shared during his visit.

  
• 05/23/2024
  Kyle Lee has been awarded the inaugural Electron-Ion Collider Users Group Award (2024 EICUG Award)! Congratulations, Kyle!
• 05/22/2024
  Ryan Babbush, the Director of Google's Quantum Algorithms and Applications Team, recently visited UCLA and delivered an exceptional seminar. During his visit, Zhongbo had an engaging discussion with him, gaining valuable insights into the latest advancements in quantum computing.

  
• 05/10/2024
  Many thanks to Dr. Xin-Nian Wang from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for a great visit and an excellent seminar. We deeply appreciate the time and effort he took to share his expertise and engage in insightful discussions with our group.

  
• 05/09/2024
  Jani visited the Institute for Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington in Seattle from May 6 to 10, where he delivered a nuclear physics seminar. He presented our recent work on "Transverse energy-energy correlators in the Color-Glass Condensate."

  
• 05/08/2024
  Many thanks to Dr. Kazuki Ikeda from Stony Brook University for visiting us and delivering an interesting seminar. We appreciate the engaging discussions and valuable insights he shared during his time here.

  
• 03/21/2024
  Fidele passed the oral qualifying exam and has successfully advanced to the Ph.D. candidacy. Congratulations!

  
• 03/12/2024
  Had the opportunity to visit this remarkable facility, soon to be transformed into the UCLA Research Park—home to the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, as well as the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering. It’s an impressive space dedicated to advancing research and innovation.

  
• 03/08/2024
  We extend our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Wick Haxton from UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab for delivering an insightful colloquium at UCLA titled "Open Questions in Neutrino Physics".

  
• 03/01/2024
  Warm congratulations to Farid Salazar on securing a tenure-track assistant professor position at Temple University! Farid worked with us as a joint postdoc between UCLA and UC Berkeley/LBNL from October 2021 to November 2023.

  
• 02/23/2024
  To strengthen the ties between theory and experimental postdocs, Zhongbo and postdocs in the nuclear group, Yiyu Zhou, Zhongling Ji, and Jani Penttala had a lunch together.
• 01/24/2024
  The Physics and Astronomy department front page highlighted "Students of the Ph.D. Physics Bridge program along with faculty and program directors". Zhongbo is currently serving as the program director.