Awards received by faculty and students
Associate Professor Timo Thonhauser has been elected a 2017 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) by the APS Council of Representatives upon the recommendation of the Division of Computational Physics. This honor is in recognition of Dr. Thonhauser’s contributions to include van der Waals interactions in density functional theory.
Associate Professor Oana Jurchescu was awarded the Wake Forest University Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Center’s (URECA) Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentorship in Research and Creative Work. The award was presented at the 2018 WFU Founders’ Day Convocation held in Wait Chapel on Feb. 15, 2018. The award recognizes faculty members who engage Wake Forest undergraduates outside the classroom and inspire, guide and support the students’ intellectual and creative endeavors.
Jed Macosko and Fred Salsbury were promoted to the rank of Full Professor during the spring semester.
WFU Physics alumna Angela Harper (B.S. ’17) was awarded the 2017 LeRoy Apker Award, in recognition for outstanding achievements in Physics. This award is given by the American Physical Society and two awards are presented each year, one to a student from a Ph.D. granting institution, and one to a student from a non-Ph.D. granting institution. Angela was selected for her contributions to printed electronics research and outstanding leadership of the Society of Physics Students and Society of Women in STEM fields. Angela worked in Prof. Jurchescu’s group and together with postdoctoral researcher Peter Diemer developed the first ever laser printed transistor. While an undergraduate at WFU she also won a Goldwater fellowship, the Churchill fellowship and the NSF graduate research fellowship. She is now a graduate student at Cambridge University in the UK.
Undergraduate student Katrina Barth (’18) won a 2018 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing doctoral degrees at US institutions. This fellowship will cover her graduate school tuition and stipend. For the 2018 competition, NSF received over 12,000 applications, and made 2,000 award offers.
WFU Physics alum, Chaochao Dun (Ph.D. ’17), has been awarded the Chinese Government National Outstanding Self-funded Scholarship Award for 2017. This award was founded by Chinese government in 2003 with the purpose of rewarding the academic excellence of self-financed Chinese students studying overseas. This award is considered as the highest award given by Chinese government to graduate students who study outside of China and do not receive financial support from Chinese government. An award ceremony will be held at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in April. Dr. Dun completed his thesis under the direction of Professor David Carroll at the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials.
At our annual Physics Department awards ceremony in May, Oana Jurchescu received the Physics Department Excellence in Teaching Award. Eric Chapman received the Physics Department Outstanding Service Award. Graduate Student Richard Dudley won the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. Graduate students Hyunsu Lee, Stephanie Jensen, and Zach Lamport (who graduated last spring) were co-recipients of the Peer Mentor Award. Sajant Anand and David Ostrowski were co-recipients of the Speas award.
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