Department Honors
From an outstanding freshman physics major to a distinguished alumnus, the department recognized the academic, research, teaching, and service contributions of students and faculty with the annual Honors Day celebration in April. The honorees were:
- Distinguished Alumni Award: Dr. Robert Compton
- Outstanding First Year Student: William Good
- Robert Talley Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research: Noah Crum
- Robert Talley Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Leadership: Annastashia Blesi
- James W. McConnell Award for Academic Excellence: Samuel Feldman and Kevin Kleiner
- Douglas V. Roseberry Award: James Neuhaus
- Robert W. Lide Citation: Brittney Contreras
- Outstanding GTA Award: Casey Morean and Shiyu Fan
- James E. Parks Award: Kaleb McClure
- Colloquium Award: Jesse Buffaloe
- Paul Stelson Fellowship for Beginning Research: Himal Acharya
- Paul Stelson Fellowship for Professional Promise: Umesh Kumar
- Fowler-Marion Award: Joseph Heideman
- Society of Physics Students Teacher of the Year Award: Professor Elbio Dagotto
- Sigma Pi Sigma (Physics Honor Society) Inductees: Noah Crum, Ashley Holt, Hannah Miller, and Katie Sylvester
Robert Compton (PhD, 1964) is the department’s 2019 Distinguished Alumnus. He spent a career navigating the territory between chemistry and physics at both Oak Ridge National Laboratory and UT. He was recognized "for his seminal contributions to atomic and molecular physics; and especially his pioneering studies of non-linear laser spectroscopy, multi-photon ionization, and multiply-charged negative ions."
Professor Adriana Moreo with Jesse Buffaloe (below left) and Professor Kate Jones with Annastashia Blesi at the Honors Day celebration.
Details on all honorees plus a photo album here.
Professor Marianne Breinig has spent a career dedicated to finding the best tools to teach university physics at every level, and at this year’s Chancellor’s Honors ceremony she was duly recognized with the L.R. Hesler Award. Since joining the faculty as an assistant professor in 1981, she has taught everything from elementary general education courses to advanced graduate-level physics. In the past three academic years, she has produced nearly one-quarter of the department’s student credit hours. Yet Breinig’s remarkable track record in instruction isn’t defined merely by what she teaches—it includes how she teaches as well. She was an early adopter of online tools and modules to make physics concepts more accessible. She developed a physics course where she designed tools allowing students to perform online physics lab experiments, as well as analysis tools so they could make measurements from a video of an experiment. Her technical savvy led to a successful renovation of courses such as optics, as well as a hybrid physics course for life sciences students that blends elements of traditional lecture and lab with Studio Physics—an approach that emphasizes student participation and peer instruction. By introducing instructional technology like a student response system, tablets, and video projection, she has earned high praise from her students. She has generously shared her teaching methods and materials with other faculty members. Breinig’s contributions extend to service to the department, the college, and the university as a whole. She coordinates the physics department’s summer research fellowship program for undergraduates, directs the department’s graduate program, and has served on numerous department and university committees, including the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Curriculum Committee and the UT Faculty Senate. She has been an associate department head in physics since 2006. In 2004 and again in 2005 the UT Chapter of the Society of Physics Students presented her with the department’s Teacher of the Year Award, and in 2016 she won the James R. and Nell W. Cunningham Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. The L.R. Hesler Award is named for a longtime head of the botany department who also served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Hesler’s students, colleagues, and friends established the honor to recognize exceptional teaching and service.
The department had another terrific showing with the university’s spring honors: from the prestigious Chancellor’s Honors to the awards for undergraduate research and GTA teaching:
- L.R. Hesler Award: Marianne Breinig
- Undergraduate Researcher of the Year: Brandon Barker
- Top Collegiate Scholar (Arts & Sciences): Kevin Kleiner
- Extraordinary Academic Achievement: Noah Crum, Samuel Feldman, John Floyd, Brandi Skipworth
- Extraordinary Professional Promise: Ian Cox, Noah Crum, Joseph Heideman, Xiaobin Lu, Andrew Mogan, and James Neuhaus
College of Arts and Sciences/Natural Sciences/Honorable Mention: Kevin Kleiner
Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching: Jesse Buffaloe