CU Boulder 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

In the late 1990s, NIST researcher Jan Hall and his colleagues created a high-tech “ruler” for measuring light, known as a frequency comb.

You may have never heard of a frequency comb, but it’s revolutionized atomic clocks and many other areas of precise measurement. In 2005, Hall shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for the achievement.

Thanks to its compact size, the frequency comb is now used for precise measurements, medical diagnostics and more. It’s one of many examples of NIST’s research making a big impact by moving our science out of labs and into the world.

Learn more in our latest Taking Measure blog post: https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/nist-inventions-are-powering-our-world

⚙️ Build it. 🔥 Weld it. 🛠️ Make it.

Register for an upcoming class in the CU Boulder Physics Trades Teaching Lab and learn how to weld, machine custom parts, and bring your ideas to life.

Classes are open to CU Boulder students, faculty, staff, researchers, and community members!

Sign up for a class ➡️ https://www.colorado.edu/physics/research/fabrication-facilities/trades-teaching-lab

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⚛️ Time to put that physics degree to work!

Join us at the Physics and Quantum Career & Internship Fair on Oct. 20 from 12–3 p.m. in the UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom. Connect with employers, explore opportunities, and discover the what’s next after graduation.

Learn more & register on Handshake: https://www.colorado.edu/physics/careerfair

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What a great start to the semester 😎

Over the past few weeks we welcomed undergrads at College Day and Fall Welcome, and brought together grad students, postdocs, faculty and staff at our annual Welcome Back BBQ! 🖤💛

Welcome to all our new students, and welcome back to everyone returning. We’re so glad you’re here!

University of Colorado Boulder | CU Boulder College of Arts & Sciences | CU Boulder Engineering | CU Boulder Graduate School

Big news for NSF Q-SEnSE led by JILA/NIST fellow and physics prof. Jun Ye! 👏

CU Boulder is at the forefront of quantum innovation.

A scientific quest to build more accurate clocks, faster computers and new sensors to detect the faintest signs of disease and disaster is getting a $37.5 million financial boost.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes, is investing in the next phase of CU Boulder and its partners’ work to advance quantum science research and engineering.

Read more ↓
https://bit.ly/4qBWrkt

Congratulations to the CU Boulder physics faculty who are leading or contributing to new projects awarded more than $1.6 million in U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission grants!

⚛️ AI for analyzing particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider – led by Keith Ulmer

⚛️ Using quantum computing technologies and AI to simulate plasma for fusion pilot plants – led by Yuan Shi with collaborators Xun Gao and Scott Parker

⚛️ AI for understanding quark-gluon plasma – Dennis Perepelitsa and Jamie Nagle are co-principal investigators

⚛️ AI for enhancing the foundation model for nuclear and particle physics – Dennis Perepelitsa is a co-principal investigator

Read more: https://www.colorado.edu/physics/2026/08/18/physics-faculty-awarded-department-energys-genesis-mission-funding-ai-based-projects

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

Congratulations to Professor Meredith Betterton on receiving a Sloan Matter-to-Life grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation! 🎉

The two-year, $594,487 grant will support Betterton’s ongoing research on microtubules, the small, long tubes inside cells that serve several functions and that Betterton’s research suggests may be less fixed and static than previously thought.

The findings could deepen our understanding of cellular communication and may eventually inform advances in areas ranging from cancer treatment to the design of new materials.

Read more in the A&S Magazine: https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2026/08/05/meredith-betterton-awarded-sloan-matter-life-grant

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