Student Awards
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- Created: Thursday, February 01 2018 09:32
- Last Updated: Sunday, February 01 2026 06:27
- Written by Anne Suplee
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Ralph Angelo Bardasis Scholarship and Fellowship Awards
Established in memory of Professor Bardasis, who served the department from 1963-1995.
- 2021-22 Muhammad Aamir, Ariana Bassio*, Patrick Chen, Lincoln Doney, Dylan Flater, Fred Garcia, Andrew Gilpin, Erica Herrera Huaman, Cailin Howe, Joey Kim*, Jade LeSchack, Ethan Levy, Xinyi Liu, Javier Lorenzo, Liam McCarthy*, Elijah*Mossman*, Joao Pereira, Sarah Rinker*, Raaga Roy*, Douglas Scalioni Domingues*, Neil Shah, Wenxi Wu, Zheng Zang
Katharine Burr Blodgett Fellowship
Established in honor of Dr. Blodgett, the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge, to assist in enhancing the diversity of talented students interested in physics (AMO/JQI).
- 2021-22 Ibukunoluwa Adisa
- 2017-18 Shuyao Gu
- 2014-16 Alexandria Parsagian
Ruth M. Davis Fellowship
Established by The Aerospace Corporation in honor of Dr. Davis' service as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Davis was the first female to receive a Ph.D. in math at UMD. This award alternates between the Departments of Physics and Mathematics.
- 2022-23 Yingyue Zhu, Brittany Richman, Shuyao Gu
- 2020-21 Arushi Bodas, Wen-Chen Lin, Batoul Banihashemi
- 2019-20 Qixin Yang
- 2018-19 Hong Nhung Nguyen, Ana Valdes-Curiel, Yidan Wang
- 2017-18 Tingyue Gan
- 2016-17 Chiao-Hsuan Wang
- 2015-16 Virginia Forstall
- 2014-15 Kanupriya Sinha
- 2013-14 Xuan Yao
- 2012-13 Qiuzi Li
- 2011-12 Amanda Galante
- 2010-11 Malina Kirn
- 2009-10 RongRong Wang
- 2008-09 Cecilia Gonzalez-Tokman
- 2007-08 Emily Edwards
- 2006-07 Elizabeth W. Twedt
- 2003-04 Rosemary Russ
Joseph Helfand Memorial Scholarship
Established in memory of UMD physics student Joseph Helfand, the fund supports outstanding scholarship within the department.
- 2023-24 Harkeerat Singh
- 2021-22 Elijah Mossman, Sarah Rinker
Leon A. Herreid Science Fellowship
Established by Paul Herreid in memory of his son, UMD grad Leon A. Herreid, and to honor Leon’s long and positive association with Goddard Space Flight Center.
- 2024-25 Shuzhe Zeng
- 2023-24 Rachel Procter-Murphy, Zachary Metzler
- 2022-23 Lucas Smith
- 2021-22 Lucas Smith, Stefano Antonini
- 2018-19 Liz Friedman, Zhiyu Yin
- 2016-17 Donggeun Tak, Min-A Cho
- 2015-16 Gareth Roberg‐Clark, Qile Zhang
- 2013-14 David Angelaszek
- 2012-13 Bill McConville
- 2011-12 Robert DiFabio
- 2010-11 Robert DiFabio, Jonah Kanner
Charles T. Husar Fellowship in Physics
Recently established by Charlie Husar (B.S., '71) to support students in the Department of Physics.
- 2024-25 Sagnik Mondal, Kushan Panchal, Alexandra Behne, Greeshma Oruganti
- 2023-24 Patrick Banner, Yingue Zhu, Elizabeth Bennewitz
- 2022-23 Martin Ritter, Jacob Bringewatt, Saurabh Kadam, Alexander Wikner, Nicholas Mennona
- 2021-22 Artur Perevalov, Adam Ehrenberg
- 2020-21 Jingnan Cai, Mika Chmielewski, John Hannegan
Richard and Anna Iskraut Award
Established by a bequest from Mrs. Anna Iskraut, mother of Richard Iskraut. Iskraut received his doctorate in theoretical physics in 1941 at the University of Leipzig under Werner Heisenberg. He joined the Maryland physics faculty in 1946, and served until his death in 1961. This award is given to the first-year graduate student with the highest score on the Classical portion of the Qualifying Examination.
- 2023-24 Zhaohui Xu
- 2021-22 Yonatan Gazit, Yanda Geng
- 2020-21 Venkata Sai Saketh Muddu
- 2016-17 Hanho Lee, Sarthak Chandra
- 2015-16 Majid Ekterachian
- 2014-15 Bo Mia, Andrew Gaudell
- 2012-13 Sungwoo Hong
- 2011-12 Aaron Hagerstrom, Vojtek Krejcek
- 2010-11 Ben Dreyfus
- 2009-10 Andrea Taracchini, Ed Behn
- 2008-09 Justin Wilson, Jonathan Sperling
- 2005-06 Konstantinos Koutrolikos
Kapo-Barwick Award
Awarded for the highest grade point average for the first two years of graduate study.
- 2023-24 Yanda Geng
- 2021-22 Sagar Airen
- 2020-21 Tsung-Sheng Huang
- 2016-17 Israel Martinez Castellanos
- 2015-16 Bo Miao
- 2014-15 Stephen Ragole
- 2012-13 Brian Calvert
- 2011-12 Daniel Barker
William MacDonald Physics Scholarship
Established in memory of Professor MacDonald, an innovator in the use of computers in research and instruction.
- 2023-24 Wenxi Wu
- 2020-21 Lincoln Doney, Fed Angelo Batan Garcia, Andrew Gilpin
Monroe H. Martin Graduate Research Fellowship
Established in memory of Dr. Martin, the founder of IPST, to support a graduate student whose interests span both mathematics and physics.
- 2022-23 En-Jui Kuo, Scott Hancock, Nhung Nguyen, Su-Kuan Chu
- 2020-21 Chih-Chiao Hung, Cong Minh Tran, Sarthak Subhankar
- 2019-20 Elizabeth Paul
- 2018-19 Leonard Campanello, Soubhik Kumar, Dalia Ornelas Huerta
- 2017-18 Samuel Punshon-Smith
- 2016-17 Antony Speranza
- 2015-16 Suddhasattwa Das
- 2014-15 Anton de la Fuente
- 2013-14 Alexei Stepanov
- 2012-13 Shane Squires
- 2011-12 Kanna Nakamura
- 2010-11 Paul Patrone
- 2009-10 Kostantinos Koiutrolikos
- 2008-09 John Quah
Thomas G. Mason Interdisciplinary Physics Fellowship
Established by alumnus Thomas G. Mason (B.S., 1989), this award helps expose talented doctoral students to problems and approaches in non-physics disciplines through summer interaction with professors in other departments.
- 2024-25 Iman Ahmadabadi, Jeffery Yu
- 2023-24 Daniel Spencer, Raunak Dey
- 2022-23 Timothy Connor Mooney, Declan Norton
- 2021-22 Elizabeth Bennewitz
- 2019-20 Pradeep Niroula
- 2018-19 Zhiyu Yin
- 2017-18 Sanjukta Krishnagopal
- 2014-15 Joseph L. Garrett
- 2013-14 Matthew Harrington
- 2012-13 Can Guven, Matt Kretschmer
- 2011-12 Konstantinos Koutrolikos
- 2010-11 Joshua Parker
- 2008-09 Meghan Driscoll
Charles W. Misner Award
This award was recently established in honor of Professor Charles Misner to recognize outstanding thesis work in gravitation and cosmology.
- 2024-25 Rodrigo Andrade e Silva and Saketh Muddu
- 2022-23 Stefano Antonini and Batoul Banihashemi
- 2020-21 Mohammed Khalil
Ralph Myers & Friends
Established by alumni and friends of the Department of Physics in honor of former Chair and Professor Ralph D. Myers, this award is given annually to support outstanding Teaching Assistants.
| 2023-24 | Spring semester: Edward Broadberry, Evgenia Manolidou Chatz, Vincent Tembo, Marissa McMaster, Paulo Marques, Matthew Bravo, Jiayao Zhao, George Witt, Samarth Sriram, Deven Bowman |
| 2022-23 | Spring semester: Mikayla Greiner, Jinghong Yang, Saipriya Satyajit, Jinchen He, Ina Flood, Spandan Pathak, Nadav Shaibe, Aritra Das, Aagam Shah, Ninad Harischchandrakar, Yuxun Guo, Lisal Peiris, Patrick Chen, Leonello Cillis, Sonja Hakala, Stephen McNierney |
| 2021-22 | Spring semester: Matthew Bravo, Saipriya Satyajit, Edward Broadberry, Eunji Ko, Ibukunoluwa Adisa, Gong Cheng, Yonatan Gazit, Wei (Timothy) Li, Quincy Webb |
| 2020-21 | Spring semester: Stefano Antonini, Joshua Chiel, Jorge Ramirez, Joseph Hayden, Yixu Wang, Matthew Bravo, William Grunow, Abhish Dev, Prateek Bhargava, Majid Ekhterachian, Logan Swaisgood, Navya Gupta, Colin Yancey, Hoony Kang, Jeremy Shuler, Subhayan Sahu, Yonatan Gazit, Ethan Zack. Honorable mention: Beini Gao, Nathan Zimmerberg, Clayton Ristow, Huayu Zhang, Hanyu Liu, Edward Broadberry, Khoi Hoang, Mengwen Shi, Mekhala Paranjpe, Bihan Shen, Saurav Das, Ina Flood, Dawid Brzeminski, Jeet Shah. Fall semester: First place: Ina Flood, Yonatan Gazit, Scott Hurwitz, Emily Jiang, Zachary Metzler, Anthony Munson, Dhruvit Patel, Nathan Zimmerberg Honorable mention: Batoul Banihashemi, Joseph Hayden, Shams Mehdi, Deepak Sathyan, Jiashen Tang, Shuyang Wang Spring semester: Stefano Antonini, Joshua Chiel, Jorge Ramirez, Joseph Hayden, Yixu Wang, Matthew Bravo, William Grunow, Abhish Dev,Prateek Bhargava, Majid Ekhterachian, Logan Swaisgood, Navya Gupta, Colin Yancey, Hoony Kang, Jeremy Shuler, Subhayan Sahu, Yonatan Gazit, Ethan Zack Honorable mention: Beini Gao, Nathan Zimmerberg, Clayton Ristow, Huayu Zhang, Hanyu Liu, Edward Broadberry, Khoi Hoang, Mengwen Shi, Mekhala Paranjpe, Bihan Shen, Saurav Das, Ina Flood, Dawid Brzeminski, Jeet Shah |
| 2019-20 | First place: Batoul Banihashemi, Guilherme De Sousa, Elizabeth Friedman, Shuyao Gu, Jarryd Horn, Brianna Montoya Second place: Majid Ekhterachian, Daniel Fernandez, Kavic Kumar, Ahreum Lee, Arthur Lin, Thomas Longo, Deepak Sathyan, Tigist Shibeshi, Zachary Short, Tata Srivatsa, Chung-Yang Wang, Colin Yancey Honorable mention: Sagar Airen, Onat Arisoy, Masoud Arzanagh, Amitava Banerjee, Rob Dalka, Kaustubh Deshpande, Sanket Doshi, Majid Ekhterachian, Alex Fernez, Raquel Gama, Lima Costa,Srilekha Gandhari, Nick Grabon, William Grunow, Yuxun Guo, John Hannegan, Saurabh Kadam, Hoony Kang, Elizabeth Paul, Clayton Ristow, Siddharth Taneja, Jiashen Tang, Yixu Wang, Yijia Xu, Guanwen Yan |
| 2018-19 | First place: Batoul Banihashemi, Dawid Brzeminski, Kungang Li, John Martyn, Spandan Pathak, Abu Saleh Musa Patoary, Nick Poniatowski Second place: Gaurav Agrawal, Saurabh Kadam, Eli Mizrachi, Clayton Ristow Third place: Siddhartha Harmalkar, Heidi Komkov, Hannah Sabo Honorable mention: Kaustubh Deshpande, Abhish Dev, Tsung-Sheng Huang, Shuyao Gu, Soubhik Kumar, Guanwen Yan, Zachary Thomas, Joseph Mariano, Arpit Agrawal, Brianna Montoya, Alex Wikner,Kyle Sendgikosk, Monica Abboud, Linda Hembeck, Joseph Durbak, Amitava Banerjee, Amit Vikram Anand, Sarthak Chandra |
| 2017-18 | First place: Batoul Banihashemi, Clayton Ristow and Joseph Mariano Second place: Donny Pearson, Shuyang Wang, Saurav Das Third place: Abhish Dev and Xiwen Kang Honorable mention: Haonan Xiong, Arushi Bodas, Yuan Yan Tay, Eli Mizrachi, Tuan Nguyen, Mark Zic |
| 2016-17 | First place: Kaustubh Wagh, Wade Hodson Second place: Bilal Baqai, Megan Marshall Third place: Abhish Dev and Xiwen Kang Honorable mention: Shukai Ma, Mohammed Khalil, Nishant Gupta, Alexander Kowler |
| 2015-16 | First place: Aaron Vermeersch, Anton de la Fuente Second place: Robert Buttles, Harry Arnold, Guanwen Yan, Jaideep Pathak, Richard Yang, Soubhik Kumar, Hao Wu, Haiqing Zhao Third place: Benjamin Henkin, Brittany Richman, Donggeun Tak, Merideth Reiser, Arber Masati Honorable mention: Majid Ekhterachian, Antony Speranza, Theodore Mefford, Keyi Liu, Milos Nikolic, Kak Wong |
| 2014-15 | Antonios Kyprianidis, Nightvid F. Cole, Daniel J. Campbell, Jasper A. Drisko, Rodney A. Snyder, Joseph D. Hart, Aaron Vermeersch, Andrew N. Glaudell |
| 2013-14 | First place: Kimberly Moore, Luke Robertson, Nathaniel Steinsultz Honorable mention: Sharon Wall, Steve Cowen, Jeffery Demers, Joseph Murray, Andrew Smith |
| 2012-13 | First place: Guilherme Miranda, Steve Cowen, Jason Andrews Honorable Mention: John Biddle, Steve Slotterback, Chris Schroeder |
| 2011-12 | First place: Wrick Sengupta, Joyce Coppock, Steven Cowen Honorable mention: Solomon Granor, Anton De La Fuente, Joshua Wood, Joshua Parker, Lora McMurtrie, Ranchu Mathew, Ruiliang Bai |
| 2010-11 | First place: Guilherm Miranda Second place: Lora McMurtrie Third place: Zach Smith Honorable mention: Steve Cowan, Steve Lyman and Brad Gordon |
| 2009-10 | First place: Mark Herrera Honorable mention: Amir Najmi, Matther Severson, Sylvia Zhu |
| 2008-09 | First place: Daniel Schwartz Second place: Aleksey Cherman, Jeremy Clark Honorable mention: Ryan Behunin, Brian Hamilton, Kazi Islam, Timotly Manning, David Olson, Blake Riddick |
Richard E. Prange Graduate Student Award
Established to benefit outstanding graduate students in the Condensed Matter Theory Center and to honor Prof. Prange, a member of the UMD Physics faculty for 40 years. Along with the Richard E. Prange Prize and Lectureship and the Richard E. Prange Chair held by Prof. Sankar Das Sarma, this award exists thanks to Prof. Prange’s wife, Dr. Madeleine Joullié of the University of Pennsylvania.
- 2022: Donovan Buterakos, Haining Pan, DinhDuy Vu
Joseph and Dorothy Sucher Graduate Prize in Relativistic Theoretical Physics
Prof. Emeritus Joe Sucher, whose UMD career spanned four decades, established this fund to remember Dorothy, his wife of 58 years. She was a psychotherapist and a writer for the Greenbelt News Review whose work resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision upholding freedom of the press. Her last writing project took her to Russia and Belarus shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, as she tried to piece together the history of her grandparents before they emigrated to the U.S. After her death, Prof. Sucher and son Anatol completed the work, Return to the Shtetl.
- 2024-25 Rajrupa Mondal, Zhaohui Xu
- 2023-24 Yushan Su
- 2022-23 Ela Rockafellow
- 2019-20 Dawid Brzeminski
- 2018-19 Andrew Shaw
- 2017-18 Anastasia Korolov
John S. Toll Endowed Prize in Physics
Established by Deborah T. Toll, this award honors the esteemed former chair of the Department of Physics and Chancellor of the University of Maryland system. It provides merit-based prizes for undergraduate physics students.
- 2018-19 Michael Greklek-McKeon, Paul Neves, Alison Duck
