Department of Physics Annual Student Awardsupdated 05/23/2013

The Malcolm Cotton Brown Award

Awarded to a senior of high academic standing in physics who plans to pursue graduate study in experimental physics. Given in memory of Lt. Malcolm Cotton Brown, Royal Air Force, who was killed in service on July 23, 1918. The fund currently provides a prize of $1,000.

The 2012 Malcolm Cotton Brown Award Winners

• Emily Davis SB '12
  Thesis supervisors: Nergis Mavalvala
  
• Vinay Ramasesh SB '12
  Thesis supervisor: Martin Zwierlein
  

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The Philip Morse Memorial Award

Awarded to a senior of high academic standing in physics who plans to pursue graduate study in physics. Given in memory of Philip Morse, MIT Professor of Physics, one of the renowned physicists of the 20th century, whose contributions spanned from basic physics to engineering. The fund currently provides a prize of $1,000.

The 2012 Philip Morse Memorial Award Winner: Longzhi Tan SB '12
Thesis Supervisor: Jeff Gore

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The Joel Matthew Orloff Award

The Joel Matthew Orloff Awards were established by Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Orloff in memory of their son Joel, a physics major, who died in an automobile accident shortly after graduation from MIT in 1978. One thousand dollars is awarded to each of several physics majors in the following three categories:

• Scholarship: Given to the student with the highest GPA in physics courses and, if a tie, the highest overall GPA.
• Research: Given to the student with the most outstanding senior thesis.
• Service: Given to the student with the most outstanding service to the department, Institute, or community.

The 2012 Joel Matthew Orloff Award Winners

• Scholarship - John Ruszczynki SB '12 - Academic Advisor: Isaac Chuang
  
• Research - Jonathan Ng SB '12 - Thesis supervisor: Jan Egedal-Pedersen
  
• Service - Yan Zhu SB '12 - Academic Advisor: Nergis Mavalvala

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The 2012 Sigma Pi Sigma Inductees

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The 2012 Phi Beta Kappa Inductees

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The Barrett Prize

The award, established by students, friends, relatives and colleagues of the late Professor Alan Barrett, honors his outstanding influence in the education of physicists and his fundamental contributions to the science and technology of astrophysics. A $1000 prize is awarded annually to a senior undergraduate or graduate in Astrophysics.

The 2012 Barrett Prize Winner - Renyu Hu (Astrophysics)
Thesis supervisor: Sara Seager

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The Buechner Student Teaching Prize

Awarded to a graduate student for outstanding contributions to the educational program of the Department during the past academic year. The $1,000 prize was established in 1987 by the late Mrs. Christina Buechner in memory of her husband Prof. William Buechner, who served as Physics department head from 1962-67.

The 2012 Buechner Student Teaching Prize Winner - No Award in 2012

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The Martin Deutsch Student Award for Excellence in Experimental Physics

Awarded to a graduate student in the mid-course of research for study in any area of physics, with preference given to experimental physics. The award was created in honor of Professor Martin Deutsch's outstanding contributions to Nuclear Physics as an educator and researcher and currently carries a prize of $1,000.

The 2012 Martin Deutsch Student Award Winner - Sheila Dwyer (Astrophysics)
Thesis supervisor: Nergis Mavalvala

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The Henry Kendall Teaching Award

Established in 2010 and named after Henry Kendall, 1990 Nobel Laureate and long-time MIT Physics faculty member, the Kendall Awards recognize graduate student teaching assistants whose performance has been significantly above what is expected of a TA.  Two to four awards, each with an accompanying prize of $750, are given annually.

The 2013-14 Henry Kendall Teaching Award Winners

• Shawn Henderson (Fall 2013) “for conducting outstanding recitations in 8.021, where he had a great rapport with students and guided them gently towards finding their own answers to questions”
• Timothy Hsieh (Fall 2013) "for writing psets and solutions, maintaining the website, and holding weekly recitations for 8.511”
• Jeremy Lopez (Fall 2013) "for his work in 8.21, including producing nearly perfect problem set solutions and giving constructive feedback about psets and exam questions"
• Chong Wang (Fall 2013) "for doing an all-around-wonderful job as an amazing TA in 8.321”

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The Andrew M. Lockett III Memorial Fund Award

Awarded to a graduate student in theoretical physics, with preference given to students from Los Alamos, NM, and New Orleans, LA.  The award currently carries a prize of $1,000. The award was established by Mrs. Lucille Lockett Stone in memory of her husband, Dr. Andrew M. Lockett, who received his Ph.D. in physics from MIT in 1954.

The 2012 Andrew Lockett III Memorial Fund Award Winner: Daniel Sung-Joon Park (Theoretical Nuclear & Particle Physics)
Thesis supervisors: Washington Taylor

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The Sergio Vazquez Prize

Established in memory of Sergio Vazquez, a graduate student in the Center for Theoretical Physics who was killed in an automobile accident on April 1, 1990, $1,000 to be awarded annually to a graduate student with preference for a student from an underrepresented sector of the population who had to overcome racial, physical or financial barriers.

The 2012 Sergio Vazquez Prize Winner: Joshua Bendavid (Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics)
Thesis supervisor:  Christoph Paus

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