Undergraduate Awards
The Lannutti Award
The Lannutti Award recognizes excellence in undergraduate research. It was first awarded in 2009. This award is coupled to the annual Physics Department Undergraduate Poster Session that takes place each spring during Honors Week.
Günter Schwarz Memorial Scholar Award
The Günter Schwarz award is for students who have outstanding records in physics and who have also participated significantly in music or related arts.
In Germany, Schwarz was studying to be a musician until the German government identified all students who had an aptitude for science and forced them to change to science majors. He started studying physics at the University of Göttingen. Eventually he came to the US to study for a PhD in Physics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. After getting his PhD, he joined the FSU faculty in 1949. He and Dr. George Ragossa, who also had gotten a PhD in physics at Johns Hopkins in the same research area as Schwarz, came together and they set up a laboratory in curved crystal X-ray spectroscopy with the help of their Johns Hopkins major professor, Joyce Bearden. It was the first real research laboratory in the FSU Physics Department.
Schwarz was a very, very talented musician, and a particularly fine pianist. He played like a professional. He encouraged all of the FSU undergraduate physics majors to take as many courses as possible in music and related arts areas. That is why the Schwarz awards are 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.
The Lynn Shannon Proctor Award
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 outstanding student in or applicant to either the undergraduate or graduate program in Physics. The awardee must be a member of an ethnic or gender group which is underrepresented in Physics.
Sigma Pi Sigma (ΣΠΣ)
ΣΠΣ is the National Honor Society of the Society for Physics Students (SPS). For induction, students must have completed 90 hours of course work, maintained a GPA of at least 3.5 GPA (Juniors) or 3.20 (Seniors) in physics courses, and have demonstrated a strong and hopefully abiding interest in physics.
For a number of years, the Physics Department provided a symbolic induction for those who met the conditions. In the Spring of 2014, a full ΣΠΣ induction ceremony was held. Those who qualified were invited to join the National Honor Society. The names of all invitees are shown below. The names of those who accepted the invitation are shown in bold.
The Anna Runyan Award
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. degree 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 Scholarship in Physics, to be distributed every year.
Clara Kibler Davis Scholarship
For worthy female students for studies in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and other courses in science.
Evelyn and John Baugh Research Presentation Scholarship
Awards of up to $500 are available for undergraduate students with majors in the Physics Department and graduate students in the Physics Department to present their research at a conference. The presentation may be a poster or a talk. Undergraduate recipients must present their work at the Physics Department’s Student Poster Session held each spring. Graduate recipients must present their work at the Physics Department’s 3 Minute Thesis competition held each spring. Before funds can be dispersed, recipients must write a thank you note to the donors. Applications should be sent to (beekman@magnet.fsu.edu) and must include the following items:
- a brief description of the work to be presented, including where it was done and who supervised it
- an explanation of how attending the conference will benefit you
- an itemized budget that includes transportation, lodging, registration, and meals
- additional sources and amounts of funding that, along with the Baugh funds, would cover the full budget
- a letter from an FSU faculty member supporting the application and taking responsibility for ensuring the student presents a poster during the next departmental poster session.
Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis, with the caveat that once a year’s funding is gone, no more applications for that year will be accepted. We are still accepting applications for this fiscal year.
John D. Fox Scholarship
To support 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.