Physics and Astronomy graduate students Rui Huang, Hossein Zandipour, Hassan Bukhari, Yuanzheng Wen, Jodie McLennan, Eudes Gomes da Silva were recently awarded scholarships.

Rui Huang received the Goertz/Nicholson Memorial Scholarship Award,  presented to a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy who demonstrates the promise of achieving excellence in the field, preferably space plasma physics. The criteria for the award have been established under the guidance of Jane Nicholson and Ulrike Goertz.

Hossein Zandipour and Hassan Bukhari are the John & Stacey Wahl Scholarship recipients. John Wahl was a 1944 and 1952 graduate of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.  During the late 1940s, between his graduate degrees, he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission at Los Alamos and later returned to the University of Iowa and received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics. During the course of his education, both he and Mrs. Wahl maintained an active family and were constantly under financial constraints.  Hence, their decision to establish a scholarship fund to benefit only those students who are in similar circumstances – with academic and personal responsibilities. Mr. Wahl was employed by the Schlumberger Company for 25 years before his death in 1982.  His wife, Mrs. Mary E. Wahl (Stacey), received a B.A. degree from The University of Iowa in 1938, taught high school mathematics in Iowa City during the 1940s, and is a retired Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Western Connecticut College in Danbury.

Yuanzheng Wen and Jodie McLennan were awarded the G. William Pfeiffer and Marilyn M. Maltby Scholarship. The criteria for the scholarship is to support one or more annual scholarships to deserving graduate students in space physics in the Department of Physics & Astronomy.  When selecting recipients, the donor requires that the recipient be a U.S. citizen or other lawful Permanent Resident of the U.S.  Furthermore, it is the donor’s preference that this scholarship be renewable so long as the recipient continues to qualify under the specified criteria.  If a recipient matching the stated preferences cannot be found, the award will be given to a U.S. citizen(s) or other lawful Permanent Resident of the U.S. who most clearly matches the stated preferences.

Eudes Gomes da Silva is the recipient of the Swift Award, funded through the Physics and Astronomy Graduate Student Support Fund, which was established by Dr. Henry Swift, an alumnus of The University of Iowa's Department of Physics and Astronomy.  Dr. Henry Swift graduated with a M.S. from The University of Iowa in 1941 and a Ph.D. in 1943.  In 2000 he made a generous donation to the Department of Physics and Astronomy to provide support to graduate students in our program.  The writings of Professor Amit Goswami on the science of consciousness had a significant impact on Dr. Swift and one of his goals is to bring this work to the attention of students.