News Archive
Articles about KITP and featured articles from KITP newsletters
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New mathematical frameworks reveal how stable thoughts emerge from chaotic brain activity
"The mind is what the brain does," as the pioneering artificial intelligence researcher Marvin Minsky once said. So it’d be fantastic to understand at what level of anatomy, or complexity, the brain actually carries out its processing and computation.
This quandary is precisely what captivates Fatih Dinc, a postdoctoral scholar at UC Santa Barbara's Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) and Geometric Intelligence Lab. Read more -
Lars Bildsten elected as member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Gluck Professor of Theoretical Physics Lars Bildsten, Director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, elected as a new member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2026. Read more
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David Gross Wins 2026 Special Breakthrough Prize
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation today announced physicist David J. Gross, of UC Santa Barbara’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, among the winners of the 2026 Breakthrough Prizes, honoring scientists whose discoveries are significantly driving growth of human knowledge. Read more
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Café KITP: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 @ 6:00 PM
Physics of intelligence
Join KITP Postdoctoral Scholar Fatih Dinç to explore how different systems, human brains, computer programs, and other machines store, process, and use information — in other words, how do they perform computations? Learn more about Café KITP. -
Fueling Science at KITP, One Cup at a Time
When KITP’s visitors arrive at Kohn Hall before they dig into their science and collaborations, they wonder, “How do I get into the building? Where is my office?” And of course, “Where is the coffee?”
Read moreDemi Cain, KITP Development Coordinator
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2025 -
A rewarding dissertation on the strong nuclear force
KITP Postdoc Bruno Scheihing-Hitschfeld is awarded for outstanding dissertation in nuclear physics by the American Physical Society.
Read moreHarrison Tasoff, Science Writer, UCSB Public Affairs & Communications
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2025 -
The contagious brilliance of Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton ingrained himself into astrophysics, and into the astrophysics community, in an indelible manner.
Read moreHarrison Tasoff, Science Writer, UCSB Public Affairs & Communications
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2025 -
Rethinking Math Readiness for First-Year Physics and Engineering
For us, the KITP has come to symbolize the cementing of a deep friendship and the inception of a lasting professional partnership.
Read moreJames Dent and Joel Walker
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2025 -
Fall 2025 KITP Newsletter
The Fall 2025 KITP Newsletter is now available! Read more.
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The Joseph Polchinski Papers: A Legacy of Theoretical Physics
The UCSB Library recently finalized the processing and digitization of the faculty papers of renowned theoretical physicist and string theorist Joseph Polchinski (1954–2018).
Read moreUCSB Library
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2025 -
Director's Letter - Fall 2025
The banner image is a rendering of KITP House, our newest project aimed at enhancing collaborative science for the next century by providing housing for our postdoctoral scholars, graduate fellows and long-term sabbatical visitors.
Read moreLars Bildsten, KITP Director
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2025 -
40 Years of Science at KITP
Explore four decades of breakthroughs at KITP!
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KITP Call for Proposals 2019
Now is the time to submit program pre-proposals or full proposals for the 2022-2023 academic year. Our activities consist of 2-4 month focused research programs. Pre-proposal submissions need not be elaborate — a title, at least two paragraphs explaining the idea, and suggestions for 2-4 organizers and 10-15 key participants, keeping in mind KITP's commitment to diversity and inclusion of under-represented groups. If you feel that your proposed program would benefit from a four day conference, please tell us how you see such an event impacting your program.Proposed coordinators must be willing and able to spend most of the program in residence at KITP. Members of the advisory board will review these pre-proposals and encourage the development of promising ones into full proposals in advance of the late February 2021 board meeting. -
A Stellar Physicist
UC Santa Barbara astrophysicist and KITP Director, Lars Bildsten, named as an inaugural fellow of the American Astronomical Society (Read more on The Current...)
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Coronavirus Update
Message from KITP Director, Lars Bildsten regarding Coronavirus
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An Accidental Astrophysicist
The American Astronomical Society honors an unlikely astrophysics leader from UC Santa Barbara.
Read moreHarrison Tasoff, Science Writer, UCSB Public Affairs
KITP 2021 Spring Newsletter -
Enhancing Research
The KITP launches a fellowship for physics faculty at minority-serving institutions
Read moreHarrison Tasoff, UCSB Public Affairs
KITP Newsletter, Fall 2022 -
KITP Director Awarded 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
DAVID J. GROSS, director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for solving the last great remaining problem of what has since come to be called “the Standard Model” of the quantum mechanical picture of reality.
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New Kohn Hall Proves Whole Can Be More Than Sum Of Old and New Parts
Michael Graves Executes Design to Enhance Collaborations Among Physicists
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Boris Shraiman points a physicist’s eye on biological quandaries
Boris Shraiman is awarded the American Physical Society’s Max Delbrück Prize in Biological Physics.
Read more