Awards & Fellowship Applications

Polaris provides a year-long mentoring course which pairs first and second-year students with upperclassmen or graduate student mentors. In addition to the mentoring course, beginning last summer, Polaris created a two-week early- arrival program for incoming students. As noted in the nomination letter: “Student-to-student mentoring relationships are uniquely valuable since the mentor in each relationship is someone that has very recently gone through the same struggles as the mentee, and can be approachable in a way that other mentoring relationships are not. Beyond enriching the undergraduate experience at Ohio State, Polaris grants a unique opportunity for graduate students to sharpen their mentorship skills.” 

For their leadership in the Polaris Mentoring program we recognize these individuals: 

Ryan Bailey-Crandell (Physics, Graduate) 
Lydon Bindal (Physics, Undergraduate) 
Dennis Calderon (Physics, Graduate) 
Kirsten Casey (Physics, Graduate) 
Kacey Clark (Math, Graduate) 
Alison Duck (Astronomy, Graduate) 
Lauren Ennesser (Physics, Graduate) 
Humberto Gilmer (Physics, Graduate) 
Emily Griffith (Astronomy, Graduate) 
Natalie Harrison (Physics, Graduate) 
Kevin Ingles (Physics, Graduate) 

SWiP has worked to establish themselves as an official university student organization, lobbied and worked with the department to identify resources, and over the past several years the leaders recognized below have maintained a constant stream of meetings and workshops that have both highlighted the role of women in the broader field and provided resources and support to female members of our department community. As noted in the nomination letter, they “took it upon themselves to make sure that SWiP moved forward as an active and important voice in support of female physicists.” Their efforts are exemplified by their response to the COVID-19 pandemic: “They have ... demonstrated their dedication to supporting their peers and colleagues by tirelessly exploring new formats and venues for online interaction, maintaining regular ‘SWiP chats’ and notably applying for, and receiving, university support to help recruit one of the leaders in advocating for equity for women in Physics, Dr. Agnes Mocsy, to give a virtual presentation on April 15th.” The sustained effort by these students, over the course of several years, has made a major impact on the climate and mentoring environment of our department.  
 
For their work in revitalizing the Society of Women in Physics group we recognize these individuals: 

Kirsten Casey

Aditi Fulsundar 

Donley Cormode  

Lauren Ennesser 

Huma Yusuf 

Prerna Kabtiyal

As a postdoc in the OSU ATLAS group with Dr. Harris Kagan, Suyog has provided exceptional mentoring to graduate students and particularly to a series of undergraduate physics majors. 

The nomination letter highlights Suyog’s strengths, persistence and dedication in mentoring: "He works closely with the students he mentors and his relationship is mutually beneficial.  His students work on well-designed projects that are most suitable to their interest, skills, and  needs.  He closely supervises their work and helps them find errors in their work and reasoning.  He teaches them how to report their results and grow as researchers.  I think this shows Suyog takes a genuine interest in the students’ education and career.  This allows him to foster strong collaboration with them in which students who have worked with him have gone on to their own fulfilling careers." 

As a member of Amy Connolly’s research group, Julie has been an exception guide to a team of undergraduates throughout the development of a novel project called GENETIS, which uses genetic algorithms, a type of machine learning, to “evolve” antennas for neutrino detection. From the nomination letter: "Thanks in large measure to Julie’s strong and committed student mentorship, GENETIS has served as a tremendous launching pad for beginning student researchers, who have gone on to top graduate schools including Princeton, Cornell, and Amherst. Julie has mentored approximately twenty(!) students over the four years on GENETIS. She has trained the students, organized and led 2-3 working meetings per week." A student quoted in the nomination letter vividly details Julie's exceptional mentoring style. One example: "One strategy Julie employs skillfully when mentoring students is the gradual increase in independence she affords to students on their projects. Almost imperceptibly, Julie lets go of the bike seat, giving students increasing autonomy as their confidence continues to grow." The student concludes: "I think that each of our students would tell you that Julie has been an exceptionally positive influence in their research careers and is especially qualified for this award." 

Derek went above and beyond in mentoring a fellow grad student as they started out in Ulrich Heinz’s research group. These quotes from the nomination letter highlight Derek's exceptional mentorship: 

"During that year, I used to call on Derek, in his office with very short notice, but he would always find time to sit down with me and talk. We would often walk to the whiteboards in the common area in the 2M floor and Derek would answer my questions and talk about his research and high energy nuclear physics with me at least for an hour or two once a week." 

"Every time I was stuck in my research, he would take time to reach out and help without discouraging or in any way condescending. He would often empathize and share his experience as a graduate student and how he learned to navigate the field of nuclear physics. Rather than sharing all the educational resources and codes with me at once, Derek was very careful to think it through and guide me step-by-step, increasing the complexity of the materials gradually. For instance, he would first share the links to the past workshops and schools that he attended and let me study them before introducing me to more complex simulation codes. As such, I realized how conscious he was about his role as a mentor." 

Award Winners:

Noah Charles, Humberto Gilmer

• Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Service (2 awards):
  • One award to honor a student who demonstrates excellence in service to the department, college, university or community. The nominee should directly or indirectly promote opportunities in public education and the service should be above and beyond the scope of their graduate assistantship or fellowship.
  • One award to honor a student who demonstrates excellence in mentoring. The nominee should be an advanced graduate student who provides exemplary and effective mentoring for undergraduate and/or new graduate students. The nature of the mentoring may include mentee's personal, professional and/or academic success.

https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/academics/graduate-students/awards