Giving in Action: Physics

Thank you to our generous supporters who passionately contribute to the field of physics. Your support enables our students to delve into the intricate world of science and gain a profound understanding of the fundamental laws of nature. Physics students become experts in a field that touches nearly every aspect of the human existence, from advancing cancer research to driving innovations in clean energy technologies.

 

On behalf of the students, staff, and faculty in the Department of Physics, thank you for your support of our community, which allows us to continue advancing our teaching and research missions. 

Your support helps us launch new educational programs, including Quantum Scholars and the Physics Career & Internship Fair. Expanded scholarship and fellowship offerings enhance our ability to recruit and retain students at all levels. Support for faculty through endowed chairs and professorships propel and advance their cutting-edge research and help keep CU physics at the forefront of scholarship worldwide.

Thank you again for your generosity and support!

Tobin Munsat, chair, Department of Physics

 

55

Graduate Fellowships

 

53

Undergraduate Scholarships

 

Receiving this scholarship is a great honor. I am ever more confident that I will complete my doctoral studies and continue to mentor and teach. I am more motivated than ever to inspire and assist further generations of physicists. This award assures me that my passion points me in the right direction. Thanks to your generosity, I am one step closer to achieving my goals and helping others achieve theirs.

Morgan Knuesel, Barbara Abraham Shrauner Scholarship in Physics recipient 2022-2023 ; Stephen Halley White Award winner, spring 2023

 

Coming to Boulder for graduate school was a dream of mine—I was drawn to the intensity and range of hands-on research happening in Boulder and also the lifestyle of the area. The fellowship allowed me to choose Boulder for graduate school, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Sarah Dickson, ColdQuanta Graduate Fellowship recipient 2022-2023​

 

Emerging Faculty Research

Thanks to generous donor support, faculty in the Department of Physics are able to conduct cutting-edge research like that highlighted below.

 

Alysia Marino

Professor Alysia Marino holds the inaugural Jesse L. Mitchell Endowed Chair in Physics. Marino’s research group studies long-baseline neutrino oscillations at the T2K experiment in Japan, and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) between FermiLab in Illinois and the Sanford Deep Underground Research Facility (SURF) in the former Homestake gold mine in South Dakota. She was part of the team that won the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the discovery and exploration of neutrino oscillations. Marino is also part of the NA61/SHINE experiment at CERN.

Sascha Kempf

Associate Professor Sascha Kempf is the principal investigator on the Europa Clipper’s SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA). Scientists have long had their eyes on Europa as an important target in the search for life beyond Earth. This ice-covered sphere is slightly smaller than Earth’s own moon, and only the fourth-largest of Jupiter’s moons. Underneath its miles-thick layer of ice, researchers suspect Europa could hold more than twice the saltwater of all of Earth’s oceans combined—an ocean that might also carry ingredients necessary to sustain living organisms, including organic molecules like amino acids. “There’s, essentially, a thin sphere of particles around the moon,” says Scott Tucker, the SUDA project manager at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). “It’s like Pigpen in the Peanuts comics with his cloud of dust.” 

SUDA will use its wide mouth to capture those particles. These tiny grains will be moving at relative speeds of more than 10,000 miles per hour—so fast that when they hit the target that sits at the back of the instrument, they will vaporize on impact. SUDA collects the ions that escape from those collisions and measures them to determine exactly what the particles were made of. In order to ensure the particles are free from earthbound contaminants, SUDA is constructed in a clean room at LASP. “We have to be able to demonstrate that the material we detect is from Europa and not from us,” Kempf says.

 

The financial burden of higher education can be overwhelming, but scholarships like this allow students like me to pursue my passions and hopefully make a positive change in the world.

Blake Maly, Herbert E. Bowman Scholarship in Physics recipient 2022-2023​

 

Without the PhD in physics I earned from CU Boulder, I would have lived a very different and likely less interesting and fulfilling life. Everyone in the physics department was incredibly supportive during my pursuit of a graduate degree and I hope that my gifts will enable them to help others find their own place within the field. I am especially interested in helping the department attract and retain students who have traditionally not had many opportunities. The endowing of the Jesse L. Mitchell Chair in Experimental Physics has allowed me to support the department’s research efforts and honor my father. Discussions with department members and others at CU not only helped clarify the mechanics of the giving process but allowed me to understand where my contributions could have the greatest impact.

Joe Mitchell, physics, PhD ’87​

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