Add to Calendar 2026-10-26T16:00:00 2026-10-26T17:00:00 ASTRO Colloquium with Wendy Freedman Event Information: Title: Is the Hubble Tension Signaling New Physics Beyond the Standard Cosmological Model? Abstract:  Local measurements of Ho based on Cepheids continue to yield values lower than those inferred from measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). If this tension is real, it implies that there is fundamental missing physics from our standard (Lambda Cold Dark Matter, LCDM) model of cosmology. Resolving whether this discrepancy reflects new physics, new astrophysics, or systematic effects requires careful attention to the measurement of distances to nearby galaxies that determine the local value of Ho.  I will describe results from a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program designed to improve measurements of the Hubble constant using three independent high-precision methods: Cepheids, the tip of the red giant branch, and carbon stars, applied to galaxies hosting Type Ia supernovae. I will also present new results on  direct measurements of the distance to the Coma cluster. Bio: Professor Wendy Freedman  joined the University of Chicago in 2014 as the Sullivan University  Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, one of nine named University Professors. Previously, she held the Crawford H. Greenewalt Directorship of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California. She was the founding chair of the Board of Directors (2003-2015) for the Giant Magellan Telescope, a 25-meter optical telescope scheduled for construction in Chile in 2032. Professor Freedman  is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. Her awards include the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics by the American Institute of Physics and American Astronomical Society, and she was one of three co-recipients of the 2009 Gruber Cosmology Prize. Freedman's principle research interests are in observational cosmology and the evolution of galaxies. Presently her research interests are directed at increasing the accuracy of measurements of the expansion rate and testing whether there is new fundamental early-universe physics.  Learn More: Read her University of Chicago Faculty page: https://astrophysics.uchicago.edu/people/profile/wendy-l.-freedman/  Read this UChicago News post and other stories: https://news.uchicago.edu/profile/wendy-freedman  Read this article from UofT "Uof T still feels like home: renowned astronomer Wendy Freedman on getting her start at Arts & Science" Read her bio from the The Royal Society fellows directory: https://royalsociety.org/people/wendy-freedman-36213/ Watch this video, "Why we measure the universe" (TEDxChicago): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LAaOOaDq0k    Event Location: HENN 318

Add to Calendar 2026-11-02T16:00:00 2026-11-02T17:00:00 ASTRO Colloquium with Lisa Dang on Exoplanet atmospheres Event Information: Abstract:  [Coming soon!] Bio: Professor Dang studies exoplanets strikingly different from our Solar System planets and characterizes their climate with a variety of world class space-based and ground-based observatories, most excitingly with the recently launched JWST. Before the exoplanets era, the architecture of the Solar System’s planets has long been the primary inspiration for planet formation and evolution theories. Her research interests include exoplanets and their atmosphere characterization, exoplanet cartogrpahy, exoplanetary graviational microlensing, planetary climates and exoplanet demographics.  Professor Dang’s research interests include using time-series observation of exoplanets to map their emission and characterize their atmospheres using transit and eclipse spectroscopy with space telescopes, detecting the Doppler shifts of planetary signals using high-resolution spectra with some of the largest ground-based telescopes and detecting exoplanets using the gravitational microlensing technique with the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Learn More: See her faculty and bio from the University of Waterloo Read this article from the University of Waterloo news, "Professor Lisa Dang brings the heat with lava planet research" Meet Lisa in 60 seconds on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wy5Rtinlu6M    Event Location: HENN 318

Add to Calendar 2026-11-16T16:00:00 2026-11-16T17:00:00 ASTRO Colloquium with Ronan Kerr Event Information: Abstract: [Coming soon!] Bio: Dr. Ronan Kerr is a Canadian astrophysicist whose research primarily focuses on star formation, stellar populations, and the early evolution of stellar and planetary systems. Learn More: See his personal website here: https://www.rkerrastro.com/  Watch him on Youtube, "Revealing the processes guiding galactic star formation using young stellar populations" Event Location: HENN 318

Add to Calendar 2026-11-23T16:00:00 2026-11-23T17:00:00 ASTRO Colloquium with Renee Hložek Event Information: Abstract: [coming soon!] Bio: Prof. Renee Hložek is an Assistant Professor of Astrophysics at the Dunlap Institute in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto in Canada. She is a member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration and the Simons Observatory, which study the cosmic microwave background (or CMB) at a very sharp angular resolution to unlock the secrets of the early universe and the period of star formation. She uses this data to answer questions about the structure of the universe, its initial conditions and its eventual fate using data. Hložek hails from South Africa, where she studied at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town. She received her DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2011, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She was a Lyman Spitzer Jr. Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Astrophysics at Princeton University and the Spitzer-Cotsen Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows. She is also a TED Fellow.  Learn More: See her faculty bio from the University of Toronto: https://www.astro.utoronto.ca/people/faculty/name/renee-hlozek/  Read more about her from her Rhodes Project boi: https://rhodesproject.com/renee-hlozek-profile  See her video from Story Collider, "The Universe doesn't care about you": https://www.storycollider.org/singles/2020/9/23/renee-hlozek-the-universe-doesnt-care-about-you      Event Location: HENN 318