Student Awards

Spring 2025 awards for students and postdocs

Veronica R Lingo — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 21:19:46 +0000

Spring 2025 awards for students and postdocs Veronica R Lingo Thu, 04/24/2025 - 15:19

Special Outstanding Service Award

The CU*iP organizing committee: Iona Binnie, Anya Garfov, Margie Bruff, Willa Arthur-Dworschack, Adalyn Gibson, and Allie Plocki.

The CU*iP organizing committee, composed entirely of volunteer students, proposed, organized, fundraised and hosted CU*iP 2025 at CU, �鶹ӰԺ. CU*iP is the American Physical Society Conference for undergraduate women and gender minorities in physics. This three day event enabled 180 undergraduate physicists from across the central and southern region of the US to attend talks and workshops with distinguished scientists, present and discuss their own research, network and enjoy social events.

Outstanding service awards

Arabella Quane: For outstanding service contributions to the Physics Department including leading an undergraduate research seminar.

Nicholas Golden: For outstanding service contributions to the Physics Department including leading an undergraduate research seminar for two years.

Kristin Oliver: For outstanding contributions as a site leader for Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC), and for especially stepping up in times of uncertainty

Aaron Barrios: For longstanding and sustained contributions to Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC), over 8 consecutive semesters (the longest of any PISEC volunteer ever!)

Syd Thomas: For leadership of the Physics COSMOS group (Community of Support for Marginalized Students).

Rachael Merritt: For contributions to the organization of CU*iP 2025. (Conference for undergraduate women and gender minorities in physics).

Sara Moore: For outstanding contributions to the leadership of CU Prime.

Luke Adams: For outstanding contributions to the leadership of CU Prime.

Outstanding teaching awards

Justin Nicoski: For outstanding contributions to the Phys 2020 teaching team

Jonan-Rohi Plueger: For outstanding contributions to the Phys 1125 teaching team, including getting to know each student as an individual and setting an outstanding example as a grader.

Benjamin Braun: For outstanding contributions to the Phys 3320 teaching team.

Joe McCarty: For outstanding contributions to the Phys 1120 teaching team.

Johnny Gallagher: For outstanding contributions to the Phys 1120 teaching team.

Tobias Oliver: For outstanding contributions as a teaching assistant for Phys 2010 (Algebra-based mechanics) and Phys 4340 (Introduction to solid state physics).

Andrés Villani Dávila: For outstanding contributions as a teaching assistant to the Phys 2010 (Algebra-based mechanics) teaching team.

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Physics undergrad awarded 2025 Brooke Owens Fellowship

Kirsten Apodaca — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 15:39:05 +0000

Physics undergrad awarded 2025 Brooke Owens Fellowship Kirsten Apodaca Fri, 02/14/2025 - 08:39

Physics senior Annalise (Anna) Cabra has been named a 2025 Brooke Owens Fellow. Established in honor of industry pioneer Brooke Owens, the prestigious fellowship is awarded to exceptional students to help launch their careers in space or aviation. The program provides a paid internship at a leading aerospace company, executive-level mentorship, and networking.

Cabra was one of 44 students selected nationally for the highly competitive program this year. Her honoree bio below is from the Brooke Owens Fellowship announcement.

A senior at the �鶹ӰԺ, Cabra is majoring in physics with an astrophysics concentration and minoring in mathematics. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering with a focus on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and dust mitigation. Her ultimate goal is to help overcome the challenges of the lunar environment to advance human and space exploration.

At CU’s IMPACT lab (Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres, and Cosmic Dust), Anna conducts experimental research on planetary dust charging dynamics when exposed to solar wind plasma. Her work also focuses on developing methods for charging and separating regolith by size for ISRU applications.

Additionally, Anna is a spacecraft navigation software intern at CU’s ORCCA lab (Orbital Research Cluster for Celestial Applications), where she develops, verifies, and validates code for an orbit determination framework supporting the United Arab Emirates asteroid mission. Her previous experience includes contributions to NASA’s Lucy and TSIS-1 Missions, where she worked in science operations and data systems.

Anna is also passionate about STEM outreach and expanding opportunities for women and minorities, aiming to inspire others to pursue careers in the field and contribute to scientific advancement. At CU, she has served as Vice President and Treasurer of CU Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WoAA) and co-founded CU Women of Quantum through the Quantum Scholars program. Before college, she traveled to Mexico to teach local students about the solar system with limited resources and later became a CU Science Discovery mentor, leading an after-school program that integrated math and art activities for elementary students.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Anna enjoys attending CU football games, traveling, going to concerts, working out, and spending time with friends. As a 2025 Brooke Owens Fellow, she is thrilled to expand her industry experience as a flight dynamics intern at HawkEye 360!

Visit the Brooke Owens Fellowship website for more information on all Class of 2025 fellows.

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Graduate student Clay Klein awarded 2025 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship

Kirsten Apodaca — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 19:21:28 +0000

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 20:46:31 +0000

Javier Orjuela-Koop Wins People's Choice Award at Inaugural 3 Minute Thesis Competition Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/02/2018 - 13:46

View the 3MT News Article

Congratulations to Physics Grad Student Javier Orjuela-Koop for winning the People's Choice Award during the Inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on Tuesday, February 20th.

Orjuela-Koop's Thesis, "Michael Phelps and the Early Universe" was presented using only one powerpoint slide, which was an image of Michael Phelps swimming. His presentation earned the People's Choice Award by a popular audience vote.

Orjuela-Koop said his 3 Minute Thesis naturally arose from his current research in high-energy nuclear, "We collide gold atoms at nearly the speed of light at Brookhaven National Lab, reaching temperatures at which ordinary matter becomes a liquid of quarks and gluons (the technical name is 'quark-gluon plasma'). This liquid has very peculiar properties. Namely, it has an extremely low viscosity (the lowest of any liquid in nature), yet certain kinds of particles lose substantial amounts of energy when going through it," Orjuela-Koop said. "In order to present this in three minutes, I came up with an analogy, comparing Michael Phelps to a heavy subatomic particle 'swimming' through the liquid. This was meant to provide a clear mental picture to which a general audience could relate."

Check out the video of Javier Ojruela-Koop's 3MT lecture below.

[video:https://youtu.be/S4ByqYw1dLc]

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Graduate Robert Blackwell Earns APS Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award in Biological Physics

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 20:39:42 +0000

Graduate Robert Blackwell Earns APS Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award in Biological Physics Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/21/2017 - 14:39

Congratulations to PhD graduate Robert Blackwell for earning the 2016 Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Biological Physics.

“I'm honored to be in such amazing company. There isn't a much better feeling than giving your hard work to the scientific community.” Blackwell said, “Having that work recognized is almost surreal.”

Blackwell’s thesis explored the physical mechanisms underlying mitosis in fission yeast. “My focus was on a computational model for determining the mechanical roles of proteins during spindle formation,” Blackwell said.

According to their site, this APS award was established, “to recognize doctoral thesis research of outstanding quality and achievement in any area of experimental, computational, engineering, or theoretical Biological Physics, broadly construed, and to encourage effective written and oral presentation of research results.”

During his graduate work at CU �鶹ӰԺ, Blackwell conducted research in the Biophysics Group under Principal Investigators Meredith Betterton and Matt Glaser.

“I don't think I could have had more ideal advisors than Matt and Meredith. Most importantly, they both provided useful discussion, technical expertise and even experimental data whenever I needed. I always had the comfort and support needed to hash out ideas and discuss the next steps,” Blackwell said. “This is a gross oversimplification, but from a personality perspective, Matt really gave me the freedom to experiment and try the things I wanted to try and see what I could find. Meredith helped keep me focused and to do the most important things first.”

“This is fantastic news for Robert and we're very proud of him.” Professor Betterton said.

“Robert’s work on the fission yeast mitotic spindle was a tour de force of computational science, involving the design, implementation, optimization, and validation of a large and complex simulation code,” Professor Glaser said. “When I first met Robert, he had minimal exposure to computational physics and numerical methods, and a limited knowledge of biophysics and bioscience. Over the intervening years, I’ve seen him develop deep expertise in these areas, and he is well positioned to become a leader in the interdisciplinary intersection of statistical physics, biological physics, computational physics, numerical analysis, and computer science.”

After graduating from CU �鶹ӰԺ, Blackwell joined the Freiderich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg Institute of Theoretical Physics in Germany as a postdoctoral researcher.

As part of the award, Blackwell will deliver a presentation based on his thesis work during the 2018 APS March Meeting.

View the Award Page

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Engineering Physics Student Matthew Winchester Wins 2016 Goldwater Scholarship

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 21:24:45 +0000

Engineering Physics Student Matthew Winchester Wins 2016 Goldwater Scholarship Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/01/2016 - 15:24

Congratulations to Matthew Winchester who was awarded a 2016 Goldwater Scholarship! Matthew is majoring in Engineering Physics, and is working on an honors research project on super-radiant lasers in James Thompson’s lab.

After graduating with his undergraduate degree, Matthew plans to pursue a Ph.D. in physics, conducting research in atomic, molecular, and optical physics with an emphasis on precision metrology and then teach at the University level.

According to their website, The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate.

The scholarship recognizes sophomores and juniors who have achieved high academic merit and who are expected to be leaders in their fields.

Matthew is the fourth CU-Physics Goldwater Scholar in the last two years. Other recent Goldwater Scholars were Oak Nelson (Engineering Physics, 2015), Ryan Dewey (Physics and Astrophysics, 2014), and Jasmine Brewer (Engineering Physics, 2014).

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