Class of 2010 Graduates with Many Honors
May 29, 2010
Congratulations to the 2010 graduates of the Department of Physics and Astronomy!
- Bachelor's Degrees
13 students earned BS degrees in Physics
6 students earned BA degrees in Physics
7 students earned BS degrees in Physics and Astronomy - Master's Degrees
2 students earned MS degrees in Physics
18 students earned MA degrees in Physics - PhD Degrees
11 students earned PhD degrees in Physics
1 student earned a PhD degree in Physics and Optics
Bachelor's Degrees
The following table displays details about the undergraduates who received their Bachelor's degrees and various awards today.
Name | Degrees Earned | Additional Awards |
Zibran N. Ahmed | BA Physics, BA Philosophy | |
Gregory S. Bentsen | Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship | |
Bradley G. Christensen | BS Physics, BS Mathematics | John F. Flagg Award Phi Beta Kappa |
Martin J. Collins | BS Physics, BS Computer Science | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Austen M. Erickson | Fulbright Award Take 5 Scholar Sigma Pi Sigma | |
Andrew T. Galkiewicz | BS Physics, BA Mathematics | Sigma Pi Sigma |
John K. Golden | BS Physics, Honors BA Mathematics | Fulbright Award Undergraduate Teaching Award Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Phi Beta Kappa Sigma Pi Sigma |
Alexander F. Green | BS Physics, BA Mathematics |
|
Joseph J. Kachinsky | BA Physics, BS Computer Science, BA Mathematics | |
Victor M. Kucherov | BS Physics | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Jonathan A. Kurvits | BS Physics, BA Mathematics | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Krista L. Lombardo | Take 5 Scholar | |
Dale I. McElhone | BS Physics, BM Eastman School of Music | Fulbright Award |
Randy D. Mehlenbacher | BS Physics, BS Chemistry | |
Eric C. Merenstein | BA Physics, BS Mathematics | |
Kyle B. Odell | BA Physics, BA American Sign Language | |
Jordan B. Parker | Kaufmann's Entrepreneurial Year (KEY) | |
Roshita Ramkhalawon | BS Physics | |
Jessica M. Redmon | BA Physics | |
Adi Robinson | BS Physics, BA Chemistry | |
Patrick D. Sheehan | Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship | |
Christopher M. Sheldon-Dante | BS Physics, BA Mathematics | |
Tyle C. Stelzig | Take 5 Scholar Phi Beta Kappa | |
Aleksey Strelnikov | BS Physics, BA Mathematics | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Raisa Trubko | BA Physics, BS Optics | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Danielle M. Wedde | Take 5 Scholar | |
Laura A. Arnold | BS Physics and Astronomy | Undergraduate Teaching Award Academic Exchange Service: Research Internship in Science and Engineering (RISE) Scholarship Sigma Pi Sigma |
Kyle T. Ausfeld | BS Physics and Astronomy, BA Mathematics | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Micaela B. Bagley | BS Physics and Astronomy | Phi Beta Kappa Sigma Pi Sigma |
Julianna B. Hopkins | BS Physics and Astronomy | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Krista L. Lomdardo | BS Physics and Astronomy, BA Mathematics | |
Valerie A. Rapson | BS Physics and Astronomy | Sigma Pi Sigma |
Sarah M. Smith | BS Physics and Astronomy |
Undergraduate Awards
The John F. Flagg Award is an annual prize awarded to a graduating senior, majoring in Physics or in Physics and Astronomy, with the highest grade-point average as an undergraduate.
The Fulbright Award is an annual prize awarded to the student who, by his or her performance in the Advanced Laboratory, manifests the greatest promise for developing into an experimental physicist in the tradition exemplified by Prof. Harry W. Fulbright.
The Stoddard Prize is an annual prize awarded for the best senior thesis by a graduating senior in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The Undergraduate Teaching Award is an annual award given by the Department to honor the best undergraduate teaching interns of the class of 2010.
Take 5 Scholars is an award of an additional semester or year at the University, tuition-free, to explore in great depth a subject apart from one's major or main theme of study.
The Kaufmann's Entrepreneurial Year (KEY) is an award of an additional year at the University, tuition-free, to transform an idea into an enterprise that positively affects others.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship is a nationally competitive scholarship in science, math, and engineering, endowed by the U.S. Congress to honor the late Sen. Barry M. Goldwater.
Founded in January 1, 1925, the German Academic Exchange Service: Research Internship in Science and Engineering (RISE) Scholarship provides students with research opportunities at top institutions across Germany.
Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and largest undergraduate honor society in the US dedicated to fostering and recognizing excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.
Sigma Pi Sigma is the national physics honor society, affiliated with the American Institute of Physics. Sigma Pi Sigma exists to honor outstanding scholarship in physics; to encourage interest in physics among students at all levels; to promote an attitude of service of its members towards their fellow students, colleagues, and the public; to provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics.
Masters Degrees
Name | Degree Earned |
Elizabeth A. Pollock | MS, Physics |
John R. Serafini | MS, Physics |
Daniel J. Ambrose | MA, Physics |
Edward W. Cramp, Jr. | MA, Physics |
Brian E. Eichman | MA, Physics |
Yossof Eshaq | MA, Physics |
Azure L. Hansen | MA, Physics |
Seyed Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani | MA, Physics |
Wei Lai | MA, Physics |
Yi-Ming Lai | MA, Physics |
Tanya Malhotra | MA, Physics |
Alexander J. Moore | MA, Physics |
Amanda J. Neukirch | MA, Physics |
Levi P. Neukirch | MA, Physics |
Ryan C. Nora | MA, Physics |
Mark J. Pecaut | MA, Physics |
Alexander J. Shvonski | MA, Physics |
Dhara Trivedi | MA, Physics |
Gerardo I. Viza | MA, Physics |
Jeremy A. Wolcott | MA, Physics |
Graduate Awards
The Graduate Teaching Award, won by Shane P. Fogerty, is an annual prize awarded by the Department to the best graduate teaching assistant.
The American Association of Physics Teachers Award, won by Bethany J. Little and Fred E. Moolekamp, is an annual prize awarded by the Department for excellent performance as a workshop, recitation, or laboratory instructor.
The Susumu Okubo Prize, won by Seyed Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani, is a prize in honor Prof. Susumu Okubo, awarded annually by the Department for excellent performance in graduate course work and on the Preliminary Exam.
The Frederick Lobkowicz Prize, won by Fan Yang, is an annual prize awarded by the Department in recognition of an exception PhD dissertation in high-energy nuclear or particle physics.
PhD Degrees
Name | Degree Earned | Dissertation Title and Advisor |
Daniel P. Berdine | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Selected Phenomenological Contributions in Preparation for the Running of the Large Hadron Collider Thesis adviser: Lynne Orr |
Jose Ricardo Betancourt Benítez | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Cone Beam Computed Tomography: Development of System Characterization Metrics and Applications Thesis advisers: Ruola Ning and Yongli Gao |
Weixing Cai | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Investigation of Phase-Contrast Cone Beam CT Imaging Systems Thesis advisers: Ruola Ning and Yongli Gao |
Huanjun Ding | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Surface and Interface Studies of Organic Semiconductors Thesis adviser: Yongli Gao |
Christopher Haimberger | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Photoassociation of Ultracold NaCs Thesis adviser: Nicholas Bigelow |
Zhuo Jiang | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Transverse Modes in Large-Mode-Area Fibers Thesis advisers: John Marciante and Nicholas Bigelow |
Brijesh Prithviraj | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Collimation of Electrons Via Three-Dimensional Spatial Intensity Shaping of Laser Focal Volume Thesis adviser: David Meyerhofer |
Fan Yang | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: D Meson Hadronic Decays at CLEO-c Thesis adviser: Edward Thorndike |
Jeong-Hoon Yang | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: An Empirical Model for the Interaction of Ultraintense Laser Pulses with Fully Ionized Plasmas Including Electrostatic Effects Thesis advisers: R. Stephen Craxton and Nicholas Bigelow |
Muhammed Yonac | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Bipartite Qubit Entanglement Under Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics Thesis adviser: Joseph Eberly |
Geum Bong Yu | PhD, Physics | Dissertation: Search for Charged Higgs Bosons in Decays of Top Quarks in Proton Antiproton Collisions at Sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV Thesis adviser: Arie Bodek |
Jonathan C. Petruccelli | PhD, Physics and Optics | Dissertation: Generalized Wigner Functions Thesis advisers: Miguel Alonso and Emil Wolf |
Faculty Awards
This year's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching went to Andrew N. Jordan, Professor of Physics, and Alice C. Quillen, Professor of Physics and Astronomy.
The Professor of the Year Award in the Natural Sciences went to Steven L. Manly, Professor of Physics .
The 2010 Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America went to Joseph H. Eberly, Andrew Carnegie Professor of Physics and Professor of Optics.
The 2010 G. G. Stokes Award of the International Society for Optical Engineering went to Emil Wolf, Wilson Professor of Optical Physics and Theoretical Physics.
The NSF Young Investigator Award went to Andrew N. Jordan, Professor of Physics.
The 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics went to C. Richard Hagen, Professor of Physics.