Other Student Awards and Honors

PhD student Gage Erwin was named a U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow. The 2025-2026 incoming fellows will learn to apply high-performance computing (HPC) to research in disciplines including machine learning, quantum computing, chemistry, astrophysics, computational biology, energy, engineering and applied mathematics.

PhD students Sam Kramer, Michelle Marrero Garcia, and Isaac Barnhill were named to this year’s L&S Teaching Mentors program. These mentors are the heart of L&S’s Teaching Assistant (TA) Trainings. They are exceptionally passionate and knowledgeable teachers with proven track records for teaching excellence who work closely with the L&S TA Training and Support Team to facilitate various trainings and mentor L&S TAs. Kramer and Marrero Garcia earned Lead Teaching Mentor designation, meaning that they have served as Teaching Mentors more than once and are taking on an additional leadership role within the program.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation named undergraduate physics and math major Nathan Wagner to its 2025 class of Astronaut Scholars. ASF’s Astronaut Scholarship is offered to junior and senior-year college students pursuing degrees in STEM. This year, a total of 74 undergraduate students from 51 universities and colleges across the United States were selected.

Physics, astronomy-physics, mathematics and French major Caleb Youngwerth won the Meeting Award for Undergraduate Student Posters at the Fall 2024 meeting of the Eastern Great Lakes Section of APS. His poster presented work conducted in the chemical and biological engineering group of Prof. Rose Cersonsky.

PhD student Omar Nagib won first place at the Wisconsin Quantum Institute’s Best Student Paper competition.

Four physics majors have earned 2025 Hilldale Fellowships. They are: Ruben Aguiló Schuurs, computer sciences and physics major, working with Prof. Mark Saffman (Physics); Zijian Hao, astronomy-physics and physics major, working with Prof. Paul Terry (Physics); Nathaniel Tanglin, astronomy-physics and physics major, working with Prof. Elena D’Onghia (Astronomy); and Michael Zhao, AMEP and physics major, working with Prof. Saverio Spagnolie (Mathematics). Additionally, Qing Huang, a data science, information science, and statistics major working with Prof. Gary Shiu (Physics) also earned an award. The Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship provides research training and support to undergraduates. Students have the opportunity to undertake their own independent research project under the mentorship of UW–Madison faculty or research/instructional academic staff.

PhD students Mason Austin, Isaac Barnhill, Mason Kennedy, Puxin Liu, and R. Sassella were awarded Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships. These department-administered U.S. Department of Education fellowships support students who are committed to contributing to physics research in critical national priority areas while developing skills that will make them effective teachers and educators.