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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Natural Science
Department of Physics and Astronomy

April 2015: Yearly Departmental Awards for 2015

  • Release Date: Apr 4, 2015

cake photo

The 2015 Department of Physics & Astronomy Awards were presented at a reception held at 3:00 pm on Thursday, 30 April 2015 in the main conference room, 1400 BPS Bldg.

The award presentation was followed by a concert by the Grand Canonical Ensemble (Physics Choir).

Student Awards

The awards for students were presented by Professor Scott Pratt, Associate Chair for Graduate Programs.

[photo of M. Bennett receiving 2015 Kaplan Award]

Kaplan Award

The Thomas A. Kaplan Award for Best Graduate Student Seminar was presented to Michael Bennett.

[photo of E Goodwin receiving 2015 Osgood Senior Award]

Osgood Senior Award

The Thomas H. Osgood Senior Undergraduate Award was awarded to Eric Goodwin.

[photo of C Wendeln receiving 2015 Undergrad TA Award]

Undergraduate TA Award

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Awards went to Carolyn Wendeln (pictured) and Andrew Bundas (who was unable to attend the awards ceremony because he was teaching).

[photo of N Green receiving 2015 VerWest Award]

Bruce VerWest Award

The Bruce VerWest Award for outstanding junior undergraduate student was given to Noah Green.

[photo of Z Meisel receiving 2015 Haynes Award][photo of Y-H Tang receiving 2015 Haynes Award]

Sherwood Haynes Award

The Sherwood K. Haynes Ph.D. Graduate Student Award was shared by Zach Meisel and Yung-Hsiu Tang.

Graduate TA Award

The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award was shared by Michael Obsniuk, Kelsey Funkhouser and Joseph Glick.

[photo of M Obsniuk receiving 2015 Graduate TA Award] [photo of J Glick receiving 2015 Graduate TA Award] [photo of K Funkhouser receiving 2015 Graduate TA Award]

[photo of A Ross receiving 2015 Foiles Award from A Foiles][photo of A Ross, recipient of 2015 Foiles Award, with A Foiles and R.A. Foiles Burnett]

Carl Foiles Student Award

The Carl L. Foiles Physics Student Award is a scholarship awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student planning a career in teaching and research in physics.

The 2015 Foiles Award was presented to senior Alaina Ross by the late Professor Foiles's son, Allen Foiles, and Dr. Foiles's widow, Ruth Ann Foiles Burnett.

Faculty & Staff Awards

The Distinguished Staff Awards were presented by the Department of Physics & Astronomy's Business Operations and Personnel Manager, Marc Conlin. The other faculty/staff awards were presented by the Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy, Professor Phillip Duxbury.

[photo of K Crosslan receiving 2015 Distinguished Staff Award][photo of T Hudson receiving 2015 Distinguished Staff Award]

Distinguished Staff Award

The Distinguished Staff Award was shared by Kim Crosslan, secretary in the Academic Affairs Office, and Tom Hudson of the Machine Shop.

[photo of T Nagy receiving 2015 Outreach Award]

Outreach Award

The 2015 Outreach Award was shared by Tibor Nagy (pictured) and Brian O'Shea (who was unable to attend).

Osgood Faculty Teaching Awards

The Thomas H. Osgood Memorial Awards for Faculty Excellence in Teaching are awarded annually, one to one or more non-tenured faculty members and the other to one or more tenured faculty members.

[photo of M D Caballero receiving 2015 Osgood Non-tenured Faculty Teaching Award][photo of S Zepf receiving 2015 Osgood Tenured Faculty Teaching Award]

For 2015, the non-tenured faculty award was shared by Danny Caballero (left) and Laura Chomiuk (not pictured). The tenured faculty recipients were Steve Zepf (right) and Jim Linnemann (not pictured).

[photo of V Zelevinsky receiving 2015 Favorite Grad Teacher Award]

Favorite Grad Teacher Award

The Favorite Graduate Teacher Award is selected annually from among professors teaching graduate-level courses by a vote of the graduate students and was presented in 2015 to Professor Vladimir Zelevinsky. This marks the tenth time he has received this award in the past nineteen years.

(click on pictures to see them full-sized)