The Department of Physics and Astronomy recognized the achievements of students, faculty, and staff during its annual Awards Colloquium on April 28, 2026.

The event honored graduating seniors and advanced degree recipients from the 2025-2026 academic year. A complete list of honorees is available in the program, and photos from the event can be viewed in the image gallery below. Graduate and faculty award recipients were recognized by Department Chair and Professor Greg Howes, undergraduate awardees by Professor Jane Nachtman, and staff award recipients by Departmental Administrator Heather Mineart.

Undergraduate Awards

James A. Van Allen Award: Owen Fiedorowicz, Ryan Dunn

Myrtle K. Maier Scholarship: Sydney Tune (renewal), Mallory Weber

Distinguished Service Award: Arissa Khan

Undergraduate Scholar Award: Augustin Heitman, Charlie Thomas

Waldo Edward & Martha Althaus Smith Award: Sydney Tune

Van Allen Research Grant: Nikolas Vinovich, Darren Timmerman

Charles A. Wert Scholarship: Brendyn Little, Mitchell Buhl, Landen Freeman, Yatharth Sirohi

Acevedo Family Research Scholarship: Landen Freeman, Carson Bantz

Andrew Nelson Undergraduate Poster Prize: Brett Wasick, Darren Timmerman

Acevedo Family Undergraduate Poster Prize: Minou Emmad, Alexi Michanicou

Phi Beta Kappa Members: Caleb Benson, Braden Carne, Minou Emmad, Owen Fiedorowicz, Meredith LeFevre, Charlie Thomas, William Walters

Volunteer Recognition: Arissa Khan, Braden Carne, Charlie Thomas, Fiona Holmes, Griffin Carroll, Landen Freeman, Megan Murphy, Meredith LeFevre, Rebekah Brown, Sydney Tune

Graduate Student Awards

G. William Pfeiffer and Marilyn M. Maltby Scholarship: Philip Griffin

Goertz/Nicholson Memorial Scholarship: Alberto Felix

John and Stacey Wall Scholarship: Blake Senseman, Chhatra Tamang Lama

Acevedo Family Graduate Poster Prize: John Momberg, Eudes Gomes da Silva

Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship: Yuanzheng Wen, Jonatan Posligua

UI Grad College Summer Fellowship: Ohannes Koseyan, Ramachandra Bangari, Jonatan Posligua

Graduate Research Excellence Award: Jodie McLennan

Outstanding Teaching Assistant: Kaitlin Krivak

Volunteer Recognition: Alexa McKeay, Cole Armstrong, John Silva, Kaitlin Krivak, Laksha Das, Nathan Helvy, Noah Wessels

Staff Awards

Longevity Awards:

25 Years: Ivar Christopher and Jeff Dolan
35 Years: Marcia Rogers

Improving Our Workplace Award (IOWA): Heather Mineart

2026 Distinguished Research Professional Award: Rich Dvorsky

International Union of Radio Science General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (URSI GASS) Young Scientist Award: Shannon Hill

University of Iowa International Scholarship (Nagoya, Japan and Bern, Switzerland): David Hartley

Faculty Awards

Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award: Casey DeRoo 

Scholar of the Year Award: David Miles

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences' Harriet Wenger Crafton Research Funding: Allison Jaynes

University of Iowa International Scholarship (Lisbon, Portugal): Allison Jaynes

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Old Gold Summer Fellowships: Matheus Hostert, David Nataf, Dustin Swarm, Elizabeth Tolman

Presentations

The Colloquium concluded with presentations by

• Darren Timmerman, "High Throughput Analysis of Single-Emitter Thermal Activation Dynamics Form" (Faculty Mentor: Professor Ravi Uppu)
• Yatharth Sirohi, "Probing Lepton Number Violation and Neutrino Mass via Particle-Antiparticle Oscillations" (Faculty Mentor: Professor Matheus Hostert)