CU Boulder Physics

In a recent interview with Physics Today, University of Colorado Boulder alumna Taryn Elliott (Phys’07) shares how her physics background helps her work with companies to protect and commercialize new technology ⚖️

Taryn Elliott helps companies protect and commercialize technologies “What can physicists do? ” is an interview series that profiles physicists who opted for careers outside of academia.

New commentary by Associate Professor Keith Ulmer! ⬇️

The LHC produces an incredible amount of data and physicists have hundreds of theories about what new physics might look like.

The challenge? We only have moments to decide which collisions are worth keeping. If an unexpected signal doesn’t fit what we’re looking for, the potentially groundbreaking data could be discarded before we ever get to study them.

With more ideas than researchers and far more data than we can store, the big question is: how do we make sure we don’t throw away the discovery we’re not yet looking for?

👉 Read the full blog here: https://cylindricalonion.web.cern.ch/blogs/protected-nobody-knows-what-new-physics-will-look

Congratulations to Prof. Ye! 🏆

Physicist Jun Ye has been named a 2026 Wolf Prize laureate in Physics! 🏆

One of the highest honors in the field, the Wolf Prize is awarded to scientists and artists worldwide for their outstanding achievements in advancing science and the arts for the betterment of humanity.

Ye, a fellow of JILA/NIST and the Monroe Endowed Professor in Physics , shares the 2026 prize with Immanuel Bloch, Max Planck Institute, for “transformative, widely applicable advances in the control of ultracold atomic systems.”

From developing the world’s most precise atomic clocks to advancing quantum science, Ye’s research is helping us understand the universe in entirely new ways. ⏱️🌍

Congratulations, Prof. Ye!

Read more: https://www.colorado.edu/physics/2026/10/02/jun-ye-named-2026-wolf-prize-laureate-physics

University of Colorado Boulder | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) | CU Boulder Physics | CU Boulder College of Arts & Sciences | Wolf Prize

Turns out 100 years of physics PhDs at the University of Colorado Boulder is a pretty good reason to celebrate ⚛️🎉

Thank you to our alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends for joining us at the CU Physics PhD Centenary and here’s to the next 100!

Check out a few highlights from the weekend ➡️

📸 credit: Zach Ulibarri (NPL tour); Glenn Asakawa (industry and Nobel panels)

CU Boulder Graduate School | CU Boulder College of Arts & Sciences | Forever Buffs: University of Colorado Boulder Alumni | JILA | Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

If you took physics labs at CU Boulder between 1967 and 2012, chances are you remember Jerry Leigh.

Hired by Frank Oppenheimer in 1967, Jerry spent 45 years supporting our undergraduate teaching labs and helping students troubleshoot experiments before retiring in 2012.

“Jerry had built many of the experiments used in the classes and could fix any problems that arose,” says John Cumalat, professor of physics. “He was legendary among the graduate teaching assistants and with the students as the go-to person to explain how the apparatus and physics worked.”

Jerry passed away in 2025, but his impact lives on through generations of students whose education he helped shape. 🖤💛

Read more about Jerry: https://www.colorado.edu/physics/2026/09/15/memoriam-jerry-leigh-legend-physics-teaching-labs

CU Boulder College of Arts & Sciences | University of Colorado Boulder | Forever Buffs: University of Colorado Boulder Alumni

In Memoriam: Jerry Leigh, a legend of the Physics Teaching Labs Jerry Leigh, who was hired by Frank Oppenheimer in 1967 and went on to devote 45 years to the Department of Physics’ undergraduate teaching laboratories, passed

It’s National Postdoc Appreciation Week! Meet some of the incredible postdocs advancing research at CU Boulder Physics and JILA! 🎉

Check out their research and recent achievements ⬇️

And join us in thanking our postdocs for all they do! 💛

CU Boulder College of Arts & Sciences | University of Colorado Boulder