Awards draft 3

In 2012, the FSU Foundation received an unrestricted gift from the estate of Anna H. Runyan, who graduated from FSU in 1954 with a B.S. in physics. She worked for the Navy as a physicist in Panama City, FL. She died in 2012 and willed money to FSU "to be used as seen fit by the FSU Foundation's officers." This gift was used to establish the Anna H. Runyan Endowed Scholarship Fund in Physics, to be distributed every year.

2025

• Adam Mooers, For outstanding work on home-built scanning nanoscale optical microscopy.
• Jake Scally, For creative work in the application of machine learning to quantum information theory.
• Naoum (Nam) Mashraqi, For many contributions to the understanding of Kondo topological insulators and novel superconductors through planar tunneling spectroscopy and for exceptional service to the department.

2024

• Keegan Smith, For academic excellence and contributions to CMS pixel readout chip monitoring.
• Robert Laughlin, For outstanding research in high energy physics, including theoretical work on Feynman integrals and experimental work on silicon sensor characterization for future hadron colliders.
• Shaheed Perez, For outstanding academics and undergraduate research into the spatial distribution of polarized Milky Way foregrounds that contaminate the Cosmic Microwave Background, as measured by power spectra.
• Zachary Levy, For outstanding work on the reconstruction of late-time bolometric light curves of thermonuclear supernovae, using a novel method to estimate the total mass of 56Ni. [Note - the 56 should be a superscript!]

2023

• Justin Sculley
• Lexington Mandachi
• Michael Fredock
• Moises Medina Restrepo
• Justin Sculley, For outstanding merit in the study of undergraduate physics.
• Lexington Mandachi, For outstanding merit in the study of undergraduate physics.
• Michael Fredock, For outstanding merit in the study of undergraduate physics.
• Moises Medina Restrepo, For outstanding merit in the study of undergraduate physics.

2022

• Ethan Todd
• Kevin Liguori
• Peter McGoron
• Ethan Todd
• Kevin Liguori
• Peter McGoron

2021

• Graham O' Donnell
• Rebecca Van Gelder
• Graham O’Donnell
• Rebecca Van Gelder

2020

• Chika Onobogu
• Janiris Rodriguez
• Justin Marquez
• Maarten de Haan

2018

• Kelly Anderson

2017

• Alex Saperstein
• Anna Yannakopolous
• Corey Brummel-Smith
• Kenneth Hanselman

2016

• Amelia Estry
• Austin Skeeters
• Dayshon Mathis
• Hannah Holt
• Linsey Rodenbach

2024

• Sofia Paulino Korte, For success in academics and undergraduate research into modeling polarization foregrounds to the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation via correlated lognormal random fields.

2021

• Meg Van Deventer , For her outstanding Honors Thesis research on the electronic properties of one-dimensional metal-halide hybrid materials

2018

• Leon Hostetler

One of the purposes of the Clara Kibler Davis Scholarship is to increase diversity at Florida State University. Any student may apply to be considered for the award; however, it is the preference of the donor that the recipient be a female student.

2024

• Ana Pereira, For outstanding academic performance.
• Holly Zeyl, For theoretical work on accretion disk physics around black holes that will enable more accurate measurements of black hole spins.

2023

• Diya Choudary, For merit and success in the study of physics
• Sophia Korte, For merit and success in the study of physics
• Wonmin Song, For merit and success in the study of physics

2022

• Lexington Mandachi
• Rebecca Van Gelder

2021

• Ashlyn Langford
• Chika Onubogu
• Christina Schiffert
• Zain Abhari

Günter Schwarz was a talented musician and a particularly fine pianist. He encouraged all of the FSU undergraduate physics majors to take as many courses as possible in music and related arts areas. The Günter Schwarz Memorial Scholar Award is given to students who have outstanding records in physics, have completed at least 90 credit hours towards the major, and have participated significantly in the music and/or related arts.

2025

• Holly Zeyl, For exceptional intellectual curiosity, determination, and research toward answering a pressing question about black hole formation while participating in Marching Chiefs.

2024

• Sarah Eschrich, For excellent work in her physics courses while dancing and teaching with the Tallahassee Ballet.

2023

• Jack Lyons, For his excellent academic performance as a physics major and award-winning trumpet playing

2022

• Christina Schiffert
• James Sullivan
• Shelby Arrigo

2021

• Matthew DeJong

2020

• Gillian Boyce
• Meg van Deventer

2019

• Adam Kobert

2017

• Savannah Mitchem, Singing, Violin.

2016

• Kenneth Hanselman, Marching Band, Concert Band.

2015

• Charlotte Welch, Music Major.

2014

• Drew Blankstein, Glee Club, Music Theory, and Voice Training.

2013

• Taylor Hynds, Trumpet, Music Instruction.

2012

• Daniel Scott Davis, Men's Glee Club.

2011

• Brett Gardner, Guitar, Jazz and Chamber Ensemble.

2010

• Jared Doster, Organ.

2009

• Steven Dolly, Marching Chiefs, Concert Band, and Men's Glee Club.

2008

• Alexander Long
• Keenan Pepper
• Shawn Havery

2005

• Caroline Carpentieri, Marching Chiefs and Concert Band.

2004

• Jose Valery, Classical Guitar.

2003

• Juliette Victoria, Degree in Music.

The John D. Fox Scholarship Fund supports outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in physics. Preference will be given to, but not limited to, students who have demonstrated academic merit and whose scholarly activity is focused in the area of nuclear physics. Financial need is a secondary consideration.

2025

• Shaheed Perez, For outstanding work in elucidating the analytic structure of Feynman integrals involving massive particles.
• Zachary Levy, For ground-breaking work to determine the total 56Ni mass in thermonuclear supernovae using a novel approach to analyze incomplete observational data.

The Lannutti Award recognizes excellence in undergraduate research. It was first awarded in 2009. This award is coupled with the annual Physics Department Undergraduate Poster Session that takes place each spring during Honors Week.

2023

• Bajron Zenelaj, Fusion Reaction Measurements with the ENCORE Active Target Detector
• Ethan Todd, Process Quality Control for HGCAL at Florida State University
• Wonmin Song, Gamma decay of 69Ga

2022

• Diya Choudhury
• Rebecca Van Gelder
• Ty Wilson

2021

• Jane Case
• Justin Marquez
• Meg Van Deventer

2020

• Fabio Rivero
• Gillian Boyce
• Maarten de Haan

2019

• Zachary Goraum

2018

• Robert Goff

2017

• Amelia Estry
• Kyle Romines
• Linsey Rodenbach

2016

• Andrew Hurley, (with Volker Crede) Cross Section of Phi Photoproduction in the Reaction Gamma p --> phi p;
• Austin Skeeters, (with Todd Adams), A Search for Multiply Charged Heavy Stable Charged Particles at Square Root of s = 13 TeV;
• Hannah Holt, (with Ingo Wiedenhover), Analysis of 56Fe by Gamma Gamma Coincidences following the Beta decay of 56Co;
• Megan Wheeler, (with Andrew Askew), Filters on Missing Transverse Energy in CMS Events.

2015

• Ezra Brooker, (with David Collins), Magnetic Field Angles in Star-Forming Molecular Clouds.
• Madeline Austin, (with Ingo Wiedenhover), Energy-Time Calibration of FSU's Linac;
• Stephen Crothers, (with Steve Hill, B. Trociewitz (NHFML) and S. Stoian (NHFML)), A Simple and Cost-Effective Automated Liquid-Nitrogen Filling System;

2014

• Dennice Roberts, (with James Brooks), Characterization of Photomechanical Properties in Polymerized Azobenzene;
• Enmanuel Sanchez, (with Keivan Stassun, Vanderbilt University), Circumstellar Environment Evolved Carbon Star U Hydrae;
• Spencer Jones, (with Todd Adams), Study of the e/π ratio for the Shashlik Detector via simulated proton collision events.

2013

• Ashley Huff, (with Susan Blessing), W Boson Production Charge Asymmetry in the Electron Channel;
• Kelly Ann Pawlak, (with Ziad Musslimani, Department of Mathematics), Random Stability of Bose-Einstein Condensation;
• Kyle Serniak, (with Irinel Chiorescu), On-Chip Cavities for Magnetic Resonance Studies.

2012

• Andrew Wray, (with Robert Walsh, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory); Digital Image Correlation for Measurement of In-Plane Deformation with Vic-2D in Air and Water;
• Ashley Huff, (with Susan Blessing), W Boson Charge Asymmetry in Proton-Antiproton Collisions.
• Daniel Moerland, (with Ingo Widenhöver), Four-Harmonic Buncher for FSU Linac;

2011

• Julia Bourg, (with Efrosini Artikis and Bradley Groveman, College of Medicine), Structural Elements and their Role in the Cellular Prion Protein N-Terminal Domain.
• Kristen Collar, (with Stan Tozer, NHMFL), Synthesis and Characterization of Sn doped CeIn3;
• Morgan Askins, (with Nikolai Tolich, University of Michigan), Monte Carlo Simulations for Future Geoneutrino Detectors;

2010

• Alison Pawlicki, (with Maitri Warusawithana), Transport Properties of MBE Grown LaAlO3/SrTiO3Interfaces and the Effect of Stoichiometry.
• Julia Bourg, (with Bradley Groveman, Patrice Williams and Ewa Bienkiewicz, College of Medicine), Biophysical Investigation of Neurodegenerative Disease;
• Rutger Dungan, (with Harrison Prosper), Varying-G Cosmology with Type Ia Supernovae;

2009

• Alison Pawlicki, (with Chris Wiebe), Quantum Magnetism in the New Pyrochlore Compound Pr2Zr2O7;
• David Page, (with Susanne Cappendijk, College of Medicine), Observation of Neurological Effects of Manganese in the Adult Male Zebra Finch.
• Kristen Collar, (with Stan Tozer, NHMFL), Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of the Actinide Impurity (Uranium) Doped CaB6Â and YCo2;

Lynn Shannon Proctor was a physics major at FSU when she died in an automobile accident. To honor her memory, her family established the Lynn Shannon Proctor Award in the Department of Physics. The award is for an applicant or outstanding student in the undergraduate or graduate program in physics. The recipient must be a member of an ethnic or gender group that is underrepresented in physics.

2025

• Elliot Parker, For outstanding and timely contributions to quality control testing of silicon sensors for the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter.

2024

• Moises Medina Restrepo, For major contributions to a precision measurement of the tritium beta-decay Q-value for absolute neutrino mass and for outstanding effort in support of the FSU precision atomic mass measurement program.

2021

• Giovanni Franco Rivera
• Giovanni Franco-Rivera

2020

• Zain Abhari

2017

• Hannah Holt

2016

• Madeline Austin

2015

• Megan Matthews

2014

• Dennice Roberts

2013

• Ashley Huff

2012

• Alicia Gomez

2011

• Kristen Collar

2010

• Amy Rouinfar

2009

• Alison Pawlicki

2008

• Bernadette Cogswell

2007

• Amy Crisp

2006

• Rhiannon Meharchand

2005

• Danielle Stroup

2004

• Lisi Goodlet

2003

• Stacy Pouliot

In 2012, the FSU Foundation received an unrestricted gift from the estate of Anna H. Runyan, who graduated from FSU in 1954 with a B.S. in physics. She worked for the Navy as a physicist in Panama City, FL. She died in 2012 and willed money to FSU "to be used as seen fit by the FSU Foundation's officers." This gift was used to establish the Anna H. Runyan Endowed Scholarship Fund in Physics, to be distributed every year.

2022

• Tyco Brahe Mera Evans

2021

• Jing Lu

One of the purposes of the Clara Kibler Davis Scholarship is to increase diversity at Florida State University. Any student may apply to be considered for the award; however, it is the preference of the donor that the recipient be a female student.

2025

• Ronghe (Erin) Wang, For tremendous effort in acquiring and analyzing high-field electron paramagnetic resonance data for a range of molecular magnets of potential interest for quantum information science.

2024

• Brittney Grimes, For her extremely careful studies of the spin crossover phenomenon in Mn(III) molecular complexes.
• Elham Fereidouni Balangan, For her outstanding contribution to the simulations of nebular spectra and the interpretation of JWST data.
• Georgette Kufatty, For work towards the commissioning and analysis of the 2x2 prototype Near Detector of the DUNE experiment. 
• Purbita Rahman Prova, For deep engagement with CMS operations while shaping an ambitious analysis targeting novel SUSY space using low energy photons.

2023

• Irene Roman, For developments of the numerical unitarity method for the calculation of three-loop corrections to scattering amplitudes in quantum field theories.
• Keke Feng, For excellent work studying magnetically frustrated states in intermetallic crystalline materials
• Shameran Mahmud, For her excellent work on Higgs effective field theory, specifically for her findings in connecting the geometric interpretation of the theory with unexplored experimental signatures at high-energy hadron colliders.

2022

• Aikaterina Flessa
• Ashton Morelock
• Meutia Wulansatiti Nursanto
• Yuting Tan

2021

• Greta Chappell

2025

• Zhengfei Hu, For outstanding work on strongly correlated many-particle systems.

2024

• Sogoud Sherif , For theoretical analyses of metallic and insulating behaviors of kinetically frustrated magnets.

2023

• Ruojun Wang, For her creative work on a number of topics in theoretical physics that range from supersymmetry, string theory to strongly correlated condensed matter systems

2022

• Angelica Goncalves Dos Santos

2021

• Pablo Giuliani

2025

• Kevin Liguori, For outstanding work in theoretical particle physics.
• Steffi Bower, For stewardship of the CMS pixel detector calibrations during LHC Run 3 operation.

2024

• Ali Al Kadhim, For outstanding contributions to the work of the CMS Collaboration and contributions that advance machine learning practice.
• Irene Roman, For outstanding research work in theoretical High Energy physics, including the development of novel techniques for the computation of three-loop scattering amplitudes in effective theories of gravity

2023

• Angelica Goncalves dos Santos, For outstanding work on the study and application of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory.
• Rafey Hashmi, For his work on the CMS experiment developing new techniques to search for multiply charged particles and for developments related to the electromagnetic calorimeter trigger

2022

• Ryan Kim

2021

• Suho Kim
• Vazha Loladze

2025

• Shameran Mahmud, For developing new probes of the Higgs potential at future colliders.

2024

• Gustavo Figueiredo, For the development of techniques and computational tools for the study of two-loop Feynman integrals for processes involving massive particles at the LHC.

2023

• Prakash Sharma, For insightful theoretical and computational work on strongly correlated magnetism in low dimensional quantum systems

2022

• Vazha Loladze

2021

• Yuting Tan

2025

• Jiabao Wang, For developing code for Big Bang nucleosynthesis integrating new particle production and decay, non-standard cosmology, and hadronic physics.
• Zhenqi Hua, For outstanding accomplishments in the study of quantum materials exhibiting structural chirality and electronic topology.
• Zihan Zhang, For groundbreaking research on inversion-symmetry breaking in two-dimensional hybrid crystals.

2024

• Haoyang Liu, For an informative analysis of superconducting fluctuations in a 2D superconductor near a quantum phase transition.
• Mario Benites Valladares, For outstanding work in deriving a universal functional to be used in electronic-structure calculations of solids.

2023

• Alex Haidet, For outstanding work towards an improved modeling and understanding of collider events.
• Gustavo Figueiredo, For the development of computational techniques for the study of the analytic properties of Feynman integrals involving massive particles
• Samuel Ajayi, For his incessant search for new gamma rays to expand level schemes to high spin and excitation energy

2022

• Edmundo Barriga
• Mariam Gogilashvili
• Yuwaraj Adhikari

2021

• Josiah Cochran
• Lily Joy Stanley

The John D. Fox Scholarship Fund supports outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in physics. Preference will be given to, but not limited to, students who have demonstrated academic merit and whose scholarly activity is focused in the area of nuclear physics. Financial need is a secondary consideration.

2025

• Vignesh Sitaraman, For excellence in developing new experimental methods to increase sensitivity in nuclear astrophysics measurements.

2024

• Jesse Hernandez, For his outstanding work on doubly strange baryons at GlueX.
• Marc Salinas , For implementing machine learning techniques to advance our understanding of the physics of neutron stars.

2023

• Alex Conley, For his essential contributions to the commissioning of the CeBrA demonstrator for particle-gamma coincidence experiments at the FSU Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph and for automating significant steps of the data analysis
• Bryan Kelly, For his essential contributions to start an experimental program studying the Pygmy Dipole Resonance at the FSU Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph via (d,p) reactions and successfully running two experiments
• Scott Baker, For developing a Geant4-based simulation of the CeBrA gamma-ray detectors to characterize their energy resolution and full-energy detection efficiency

2022

• De-lin Xiong
• Eilens Lopez-Saavedra
• Graham O’Donnell

2021

• Gordon McCann

2024

• Luz Jimenez Vela, For her instrumental role in understanding star formation.
• Ronald Melendrez, For insightful theoretical contributions to quantum magnetic systems out-of-equilibrium.

2023

• Wai-Ga (David) Ho, For his productive research efforts on Mott insulators and high-entropy alloys

2022

• Sangsoo Kim

2021

• John McFarland

Lynn Shannon Proctor was a physics major at FSU when she died in an automobile accident. To honor her memory, her family established the Lynn Shannon Proctor Award in the Department of Physics. The award is for an applicant or outstanding student in the undergraduate or graduate program in physics. The recipient must be a member of an ethnic or gender group that is underrepresented in physics.

2023

• (Brendon) Tyler Jones, For his creativity, diligence, commitment, and success in physics research.

To provide much-needed support to graduate students with a scholarly focus in astrophysics.

2024

• Branislav Rabatin, For many outstanding contributions to our understanding of supersonic turbulence.

2023

• Mariam Gogilashvili, For contributions to our understanding of how massive stars die--deriving an analytic expression that predicts which stars will explode---and for pushing the frontier of core-collapse supernova simulations

2022

• Melissa Shahbandeh

2021

• Felipe Maldonado

2024

• Benny C. Schundelmier , For outstanding work on the synthesis and characterization of novel heavy-fermion materials for energy conversion applications.
• Mohammad Irfan, For his leadership, experimental skills, and elucidation in the study of topological Kondo insulators and unconventional superconductors.

2025

• Angel Rosado Trinidad, For painstaking effort and dedication in working out various aspects of our accurate density-functional and for integrating it in various available practical implementations of density-functional theory.
• Irfan Mohammad, For studies of topological Kondo insulators and heavy fermion superconductors, the latter exhibiting a possible new and exotic Cooper pairing mechanism, using planar tunneling spectroscopy.
• Kaitai Xiao, For the recent discovery of extraordinary Raman scattering in two-dimensional hybrid crystals.
• Yuxin Wang, For outstanding contributions to understanding Mott metal-insulator transitions and Mott spin liquid materials.

2024

• Keshav Singh, For outstanding theoretical work on correlated electrons of twisted bilayer graphene in magnetic field.
• Manoj Subramanya, For his expertise and leadership in wideband pulsed high-field EPR.
• Wai-Ga (David) Ho, For outstanding work on Mott Quantum Criticality of FeO, under extreme conditions relevant to the Earth's core-mantle boundary.
• Yuwaraj Adhikari, For significant contribution to the understanding of the interplay between structural chirality and electron spin polarization.

2023

• Arijit Gupta, For his outstanding experimental and theoretical work in probing the superconducting proximity effect in a Topological insulator
• Olatunde Oladehin, For experimental studies of novel electronic and magnetic states in topological metals and Weyl semimetals involving design, synthesis, and bulk properties measurements.”
• Zhenqi Hua, For his initiative and accomplishments in laboratory creative research, particularly his work on electrical transport properties of 1D metal-halide hybrid chiral crystals.

2022

• Alex Moon
• Bal K. Pokharel
• Zihan Zhang

2021

• Jennifer Neu
• Sangsoo Kim
• Wenkai Zheng