Physics major Maeve Curliss has been awarded the 2020 Hichwa Fellowship. Curliss is advised by Prof. Jeffrey Chilcote. She will be working on the upgrade to the Gemini Planet Imager. As part of the upgrade, GPI is having two of its near infrared cameras upgraded to C-RED2 cameras from First Light Imaging. The cameras are part of GPI's internal alignment and part of the active tracking of stars to enable them to be precisely blocked by the chronograph. Maeve's summer research entails figuring out how to operate the cameras, then testing their performance characteristics in a variety of operating conditions and to confirm that they will meet the needs of the project. She will use this to understand and recommend the best way to operate them once integrated with GPI.…

2020 Outstanding Senior Physics Major Award

• Kevin Greif, advised by Prof. Kevin Lannon

The Outstanding Senior Physics Major award is given in recognition of academic performance, contributions to the major, and potential for future success.

2020 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award…

Twenty University of Notre Dame faculty members have received Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and three have been honored with Dockweiler Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising.

Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprhamian has been elected to serve on the Board of Trustees for Clark University. Aprahamian received her undergraduate degree from Clark in 1980. Aprahamian will serve a six year term starting July 1, 2020. Clark’s trustees draw on their expertise in the fields of business, law, and higher education to shape the policies that guide the University’s growth, enhance its reputation, and ensure its standing as a destination of choice for academically engaged students.…

Physics graduate students Saurabh Bansal (advised by Prof. Chris Kolda) and Orlando Gomez (advised by Prof. Anna Simon) are the recipients of 2020 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Awards from the Kaneb Center. 

This award was created in 1999 to recognize graduate student instructors and TAs who demonstrate commitment to exceptional teaching in lectures, seminars, labs, and across the academic profession. The Graduate School and the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning present the award annually to TAs that are nominated by their departments. There were fourteen awards given to TAs in the College of Science. The award consists of a certificate from the Kaneb Center and Graduate School, a letter documenting the award for the graduate student’s file, and a $100 honorarium from the Kaneb Center.…