Physics Celebrates Honors Day 2026
The Department of Physics and Astronomy had plenty to celebrate at the annual Honors Day ceremony on May 4. Held as the academic year’s final colloquium, the event brought students, faculty, staff, friends, and family to the Student Union to reflect on another successful year and present awards for outstanding service, research, and academic performance. Students honored faculty members for exceptional teaching and advising and the department acknowledged key contributions from staff.
Undergraduate Awards
The undergraduate awards recognize students who have excelled in the classroom, research, and service.
Corey Fox, Dinesh Gangavarapu, Zachary Garman, Andrew Goans, Benjamin Hebert, Lindsey Hessler, Aidan Hill, Langa Lunga, Abigail Larson, Daniel Metcalf, Jack Peltier, Dylan Stewart, Nathan Whittington, and Ellie Wood were all nominated for their accomplishments.
The Outstanding First Year Student Awards went to Andrew Goans, Abigail Larson, and Langa Lunga for exceptional achievement in their first year of physics studies.
Robert Talley was a distinguished physics alumnus who invested in the department with a generous gift to support scholarships and awards. The Robert Talley Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research recognizes a physics major who has done exceptional work in research. This year’s honoree was Daniel Metcalf, a double major in nuclear engineering and physics who has worked in experimental low-energy nuclear physics, formatted data for the Experimental Nuclear Reaction Data database, and served as a technical lead on research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source.
The James W. McConnell Award for Academic Excellence, which recognizes seniors who have excelled in the classroom throughout their undergraduate studies, went to three students. Zachary Garman has done research with both the high energy physics group and the neutron physics group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory while maintaining a stellar GPA. Jack Peltier works in both nuclear physics and mathematics and won a 2026 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Dylan Stewart is part of the Haslam Leadership Scholars minor program, whose mission is to attract, cultivate, and retain Tennessee’s future leaders.
The Douglas V. Roseberry Distinguished Upper Classman Major Award is the most prestigious of the department’s undergraduate honors. Established by his fraternity brothers and supported by the generosity of his family, the award honors Doug Roseberry, who died unexpectedly as an undergraduate. Every year the department recognizes a student who follows his example of outstanding academic, research, and leadership accomplishments. This year’s awardee was Dinesh Gangavarapu. A Volunteer Scholarship and Physics General Scholarship recipient, he is part of the LEGEND experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and serves as vice-president of UT’s Society of Physics Students chapter. He also founded the e-learning STEM platform Astro Pioneers to inspire young adults from across the world to explore the sciences.
Sigma Pi Sigma Induction
Sigma Pi Sigma is the physics honor society and exists to honor outstanding scholarship in physics and astronomy, encourage interest in physics and astronomy among students at all levels, promote an attitude of service, and provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics and astronomy. This year six UT students joined their ranks: Allie Dabney, Zachary Garman, Daniel Metcalf, Amelia Sandoval, Madeleine Sorrell, and Jullian Watts.
Service Awards
The service awards recognize students who have made meaningful contributions to the department’s teaching and laboratory program. This year’s nominees were: Aubrey Augustine, Landon Boone, Mackenzie Henley, Lucas McBee, Mousumi Mitra, Josie Swann, and Samantha Wilder.
The Robert W. Lide Citation honors the late Bob Lide, who served as director of undergraduate laboratories and volunteered his help even after retirement. Samantha Wilder was recognized for providing invaluable support setting up and maintaining the undergraduate physics labs.
The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards go to GTAs who have gone above and beyond to support students enrolled in physics and astronomy labs. This year’s honorees were Aubrey Augustine, Landon Boone, Mousumi Mitra, and Josie Swann.
The Manley family established the James E. Parks Award in honor of physics alumnus and long-time lab director Jim Parks. The honor recognizes students for creative and innovative contributions to the undergraduate physics labs. This year’s award went to Lucas McBee for exceptional work improving coding skills in the physics 137/138 labs.
Wayne Kincaid was a physics graduate and research staff member. The Wayne Kincaid Award honors a student who shares his love for astronomy and astrophysics and who has made exceptional educational contributions through technology, writing, or other innovations. Mackenzie Henley won the 2026 honor for helping lead planetarium programs, rooftop observing, astrophotography, and planetarium renovations.
Graduate Awards
The graduate awards recognize outstanding research, professional promise, and departmental citizenship.
This year’s nominees were Iftekhar Ahmed, Chathuddasie Amarasinghe, Debshikha Banerjee, Nico Braukman, Peter Dyszel, Ben Johnson-Toth, Christal Martin, Jordan O’Kronley, and Max Rothman.
The Paul Stelson Fellowships are a tribute to Paul Stelson, who had a long and distinguished career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He was also an adjunct professor in the physics department for three decades and mentored many students in that time. His family established these fellowships to support and encourage young scientists.
The Stelson Fellowship for Outstanding Beginning Research went to Ifti Ahmed for his expertise on a highly complex detector subsystem and for assuming significant responsibility for the success of the MVTX, a subdetector in sPHENIX. Ifti works with Professor Christine Nattrass.
The Stelson Fellowship for Professional Promise went to Debshikha Banerjee for outstanding theory contributions in strongly correlated systems. She works with Bains Professor Steve Johnston and has co-authored seven papers with him, serving as first-author on four, including a first-author PRL.
The Fowler-Marion Outstanding Graduate Student Award goes to a student who excels in scholarship, research, and departmental citizenship. This year’s honoree was Jordan O’Kronley, who works with Professor Nadia Fomin. His research in medium energy nuclear physics at Jefferson Lab earned a Department of Energy Graduate Student Research award. He has also been an active member of UT’s Graduate Physics Society and has met with congressional delegations to advocate for science.
Staff Honors
Cheryl Huskey, who coordinates the department’s undergraduate program and events, won the Extraordinary Departmental Service Award for her outstanding work transforming the undergraduate experience through student engagement and high impact communication.
Faculty Awards
Each year the Society of Physics Students (SPS) and the Graduate Physics Society (GPS) select outstanding teachers and research advisors. This year the awardees were:
Society of Physics Students Teacher of the Year: Elias Kokkas
Society of Physics Students Research Advisor of the Year: Dien Nguyen
Graduate Physics Society Teacher of the Year: Cristian Batista
Graduate Physics Society Research Advisor of the Year: Nadia Fomin