Graduate students doing physics research in our department are shining and being recognized for their remarkable scientific, educational and service achievements. Below, we showcase several of the awards and recognition achieved by our graduate students. This list is not comprehensive. Please let us know if your graduate student(s) obtained an award or recognition.<\/p>\n
This award was created in the department with an emphasis on strong academy, research, and service records.\u00a0 All students in the Physics graduate program supervised by Physics faculty (including secondary-joint and courtesy appointments) are eligible to apply.\u00a0 The application deadline for Spring 2026 is <\/strong>March 31st<\/span><\/strong>.<\/strong>\u00a0 Click here<\/a> for additional information.<\/p>\n outReach for the Stars <\/em>Award<\/strong>: Awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent. Two awards per academic year. Physics graduate and undergraduate students,\u00a0faculty and affiliated faculty, as well as, administration and staff\u00a0may nominate.<\/p>\n Mentoring Matters Award<\/strong>: Awarded to a graduate student that has dedicated his\/her time to mentor (advise and\/or tutor) another student in Physics (or other STEM fields) thus building a relationship that will play an important role in the student\u2019s career development. One award per academic year. Physics graduate and undergraduate students,\u00a0faculty and affiliated faculty, as well as, administration and staff\u00a0may nominate.<\/p>\n Above and Beyond <\/em><\/strong>Award<\/strong>: Awarded to a graduate student that has demonstrated actions that go above and beyond the call of duty. The student may have volunteered his\/her time in the service of others, be part of an organization that helps and\/or represents the graduate student body and\/or performed a task in the service of their community. One award per academic year.\u00a0 Physics graduate and undergraduate students,\u00a0faculty and affiliated faculty, as well as, administration and staff\u00a0may nominate.<\/p>\n Please, see the\u00a0guidelines<\/a>, which have been posted on the intranet.\u00a0 Nominations will start on March 2nd and end on March 31st (Effective for 2026).\u00a0 <\/strong>Click here<\/strong><\/a> to submit your nominations. Contact soto@ucf.edu<\/a> if you have questions.<\/p>\n Please click on the link provided below to see previous pictures of graduate student awardees (Note: There were no awardees for 2020):<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2025 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2024 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2023 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2022 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t \t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2021 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t \t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2019 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t \t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t2018 Awardees\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n Maxine Khumalo \/ 2025 –<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>Congratulations on winning the poster session at the UCF Research Computing Symposium<\/a> for the poster titled: \u201cApplying Quantum Learning Theory for Classical Encryption\u201d (Authors: Maxine Khumalo and Dr. Eduardo Mucciolo).<\/p>\n Chidozie Ezeakunne and Syeda Faiza Rubab Sherazi<\/strong> \/ 2025<\/strong> <\/em>– Both Chidozie and Faiza received Honorable Mention at the UCF Research Computing Symposium<\/a> for their poster presentations.<\/p>\n Daejhanae Smith, Syeda Faiza Sherazi, Mazharul Islam Mondal, Mahdi Soudi, and FNU Himanshu \/ 2025<\/strong><\/em> – Congratulations to all scholarship awardees at the 2025 Student Scholar Symposium<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dave Austin and Stephanie Lough \/ 2025<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 Congratulations on being Order of Pegasus Inductees<\/a>!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jared Long-Fox \/ 2025 <\/strong><\/i>\u2013 Jared was\u00a0the winner of the\u00a02025 Physics Graduate Student of the Year Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a Physics graduate student in recognition of\u00a0their outstanding academic and scientific achievements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Emily Frederick \/ 2025 \u2013 <\/strong><\/i>Emily was one of two runner up for the\u00a02025 Physics Graduate Student of the Year Award<\/strong>, for exemplary performance in research, teaching, and outreach.<\/span><\/p>\n Nathan Valadez \/ 2025 <\/strong><\/i>\u2013 Nathan was one of two runner up for the\u00a02025 Physics Graduate Student of the Year Award<\/strong>, for exemplary performance in research, teaching, and outreach.<\/span><\/p>\n Angelina Minocha \/ 2025 \u2013<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0Angelina was one of two UCF\u00a0Physics graduate students\u00a0awarded the\u00a02025 outReach for the Stars Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent.<\/span><\/p>\n Shantanu Chaudhary \/ 2025 \u2013<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0Shantanu was one of two UCF\u00a0Physics graduate students\u00a0awarded the\u00a02025 outReach for the Stars Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent.<\/span><\/p>\n Suman Mandal \/ 2025 \u2013<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0Suman was\u00a0awarded the\u00a02025<\/strong> Mentoring Matters\u00a0Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has dedicated their time to mentor (advise and\/or tutor) another student in Physics (or other STEM fields) thus building a relationship that will play an important role in the student\u2019s career development.<\/span><\/p>\n Syeda Faiza Rubab Sherazi \/ 2025<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0Faiza was\u00a0awarded the\u00a02025<\/strong> Above and Beyond\u00a0Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has demonstrated actions that go above and beyond the call of duty.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dave Austin \/ 2024<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013Dave won the 2024 AVS Nanoscale Science and Technology Division Graduate Student Competition Award<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Kaige Shi \/ 2024<\/strong><\/span><\/em> \u2013 Kaige was awarded the Russell and Singurd Varian Award<\/a> from the American Vacuum Society (AVS) for his research work: “Understanding the effects of electrolyte cations and microenvironment on electrocatalytic reactions such as CO2 reduction at the electrode-electrolyte interface”.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Tianyi Guo \/ 2024<\/strong><\/i> \u2013 Tianyi earned an international doctoral thesis award from Springer Nature<\/a> and was published through the book series, Springer Theses<\/i>. Tianyi’s thesis, Low Energy Photon Detection<\/i>, was nominated after his final semester at UCF in fall 2023 by his supervisor, Professor Debashis Chanda. Springer Nature\u00a0is a global publishing company that publishes books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technology and medicine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Autumn Shackelford \/ 2024<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 Autumn was the winner of the 2024 Physics Graduate Student of the Year Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a Physics graduate student in recognition of\u00a0their outstanding academic and scientific achievements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Syeda Rubab Sherazi \/ 2024<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i><\/strong> Syeda was one of two UCF Physics graduate students awarded the 2024 outReach for the Stars Award<\/strong><\/span>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent.<\/span><\/p>\n Rachid Ben Khallouq \/ 2024 <\/span><\/strong><\/em>\u2013 <\/span><\/i><\/strong>Rachid was one of two UCF Physics graduate students awarded the<\/span> 2024 outReach for the Stars Award<\/strong><\/span>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent.<\/span><\/p>\n Jared Long-Fox \/ 2024<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 <\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/span>Jared was <\/span>awarded the\u00a02024<\/b> Above and Beyond\u00a0Award<\/b>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has demonstrated actions that go above and beyond the call of duty.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Nathan Valadez \/ 2024 <\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u2013<\/span><\/i><\/strong>\u00a0Nathan was <\/span>awarded the\u00a02024<\/b> Above and Beyond\u00a0Award<\/b>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has demonstrated actions that go above and beyond the call of duty.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Swarnadeep Seth\/ 2024<\/i><\/strong> \u2013 Swarnadeep was the winner of the COS<\/b> Outstanding Dissertation Award<\/strong>, which recognizes excellence in a dissertation, focusing on the quality and significance of completed work.<\/p>\n Alphonse Marra \/ 2023 – <\/strong><\/em>Alphonse was one of three students selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for the 2023 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship<\/strong>. The award is granted to STEM majors and graduate students who intend to pursue a doctoral degree and can complete a research project relevant to the DoD\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n Christopher Lantigua \/ 2023 – <\/strong><\/em>Chris won a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research award<\/strong>. Chris will be completing part of his dissertation research at the SLAC National Accelerator Lab. Congratulations to Chris and to research advisor, Dr. Mike Chini.<\/p>\n Dave Austin \/ 2023<\/b><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Dave was\u00a0one of the winners of the\u00a02023 Physics Graduate Student of the Year Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a Physics graduate student in recognition of\u00a0their outstanding academic and scientific achievements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Charuni Dissanayake \/ 2023<\/b><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Charuni was\u00a0one of the winners of the\u00a02023 Physics Graduate Student of the Year Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a Physics graduate student in recognition of\u00a0their outstanding academic and scientific achievements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Nathan Valadez \/ 2023 \u2013<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0Nathan was one of 2 UCF\u00a0Physics graduate students\u00a0awarded the\u00a02023 outReach for the Stars Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent.<\/b><\/p>\n Autumn Shackelford \/ 2023 \u2013<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0Autumn was one of 2 UCF\u00a0Physics graduate students\u00a0awarded the\u00a02023 outReach for the Stars Award<\/strong>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has made an effort to bring services or information about Physics (or other STEM fields) to people where those services and\/or information are lacking or non-existent.<\/b><\/p>\n Camille Coffie \/ 2023\u00a0<\/b><\/em>\u2013 Camille was awarded the\u00a02023 Mentoring Matters Award<\/b>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has dedicated their time to mentor (advise and\/or tutor) another student in Physics (or other STEM fields) thus building a relationship that will play an important role in the student\u2019s career development.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Biridiana Rodriguez \/ 2023\u00a0<\/b><\/em>\u2013\u00a0<\/i>Biridiana was awarded the\u00a02023<\/b> Above and Beyond\u00a0Award<\/b>, which is awarded to a graduate student that has demonstrated actions that go above and beyond the call of duty.<\/p>\n Eric Switzer \/ 2023 \u2013<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Eric was chosen for the 2022-23 Class of\u00a0Order of Pegasus<\/a><\/b>, the university\u2019s most prestigious student award.\u00a0 Graduate students are selected based on\u00a0their outstanding achievements in the areas of academics, professional and community service, leadership, and publication or research experiences.\u00a0 The winners will be honored at an April 5th ceremony.<\/p>\n Taylor Douglas \/ 2023<\/b><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Taylor won 1st<\/sup> place award at the NanoBiotechnology poster competition for the poster entitled: \u201cGelsolin-Mediated Actin Filament Severing and Conformational Changes by Various Ph\u201d at the NanoFlorida Conference<\/a> hosted at UCF on March 3-5, 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Iftakhar Bin Elius \/ 2023<\/b><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Iftakhar won 1st<\/sup>\u00a0place award for the NanoPhysics, Materials, and Engineering Session at the\u00a0NanoFlorida Conference<\/a>\u00a0hosted at UCF on March 3-5, 2023.<\/p>\n Sabin Regmi\/ 2023<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Sabin was the winner of the\u00a0COS<\/b> Outstanding Dissertation Award<\/strong>, and the Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Engineering, Physical Sciences, and Life Sciences category.<\/p>\n Kathleen McIntyre \/ 2023 <\/strong><\/em>– Congratulations to Kathleen for receiving the UCF Graduate Dean\u2019s Dissertation Completion Fellowship<\/a> for the Spring 2023 semester. The fellowship aims to increase dissertation completion among Ph.D. students by providing a stipend for spring semesters, tuition support and health insurance. This fellowship award allows students to forgo their non-research-related employment obligations to concentrate on completing their dissertation.<\/p>\n Zackary Parsons \/ 2023<\/b><\/em> – Congratulations to Zackary for receiving the UCF Graduate Dean\u2019s Dissertation Completion Fellowship<\/a> for the Spring 2023 semester. The fellowship aims to increase dissertation completion among Ph.D. students by providing a stipend for spring semesters, tuition support and health insurance. This fellowship award allows students to forgo their non-research-related employment obligations to concentrate on completing their dissertation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nGraduate Student Service Awards<\/h4>\n
\nAwards Obtained by Graduate Physics Students<\/h4>\n