These fellowships, scholarships, and awards are made possible because of funds generously established and supported by our alumni and faculty. Note: scholarships are not awarded every year and may not be included on this list 

These students were the recipients for the 2023-2024 academic year and summer 2024.

Paul E. Basye Undergraduate Scholarship 

Vishvi Aurora, Hayden Higgins, Ashley Morrison Asher Smith, Carter Woods 

Samuel S. Laws Scholarship 

Jayden Francois 

Donald L. and Lona Lewis Packwood Endowed  

Undergraduate Scholarship Fund in Physics  

Julianna Bayless, Joseph Berglund  

Melvin Y. Mora Undergraduate Scholarship Fund 

Donovan Flagg 

Clifford W. Tompson Scholarship in Physics  

Donovan Flagg, Jayden Francois, Luke Lindberg Corey Valleroy 

Graduate Student Scholarships 

Carl & Brynn Anderson Graduate Student Award Fund in Physics 

David Beckwitt, Bo Yang 

Armstrong Physics Endowment 

Bradley Faison 

Rose Marie Dishman Endowed Scholarship in Physics 

Dallar Babaian, Pousali Ghosh 

James L. and Dora D. Fergason Fund for Excellence in Physics: 

Abhi Abhijeet, Tony Dorhauer, Manoj Gadtoula, Dilan Gamachchige, Hriday Joni, Indeewari Kariyapperuma, Dayton Simpkins, Kishlay Singh, Carson Ziemke,  

Newell S. Gingrich Physics Scholarship Fund 

Charles Mentzer, Pavel Morales, Teja Teppala, Bo Yang 

Newell S. Gingrich Physics and Astronomy Endowment 

Harold Diaz-Quiroz, Tapesh Gautam, Mari Tsumuraya, Jared Williams 

Eli Stuart Haynes and Nola Anderson Haynes Scholarship Fund 

Charles Mentzer, Teja Teppala 

Eugene B. Hensley Scholarship in Physics 

David Beckwitt 

Ernest W. Landen Fellowship in Physics 

Jenna Bologa, Dominic Dalba 

B. H. Rose Endowment Fund 

Shakeila Davis, Risi Liyanage 

Guy Schupp Scholarship Fund 

Pousali Ghosh 

O. M. Stewart Scholarship  

Mohammed Abousetit, Abeeb Ajibade, Bipin Bhattarai, Randy Burns, Ehsan Faridi, Arash Ghobadi, Vishal Jayswal, Brady Jones, Stephen Klue, Creighton Lisowski, John Miles, Gourab Nandi, Moudip Nandi, Ishan Pathak, Avinash Sha, Ryan Smith, Marek Spader, Tom Sun, Bibek Tiwari, Mitch Vaninger 

These fellowships, scholarships, and awards are made possible because of funds generously established and supported by our alumni and faculty. Note: scholarships are not awarded every year and may not be included on this list. 

These students were the recipients for the 2023-2024 academic year and summer 2024.

Ron Boain and Catherine Rangel-Boain Dissertation Awards (fall 2023) 

Pratik Sahu, Katie Shaefer 

Chandrasekhar Fellow (2024) 

Dylan Weaver 

Harry E. Hammond Teaching Assistant Award 

Jenna Bologa, Indeewari Kariyapperuma, Kishlay Singh, Jarred Williams,  

Ron Boain and Catherine Rangel-Boain Travel Award 

Harold Diaz-Quiroz, Alec Martin, Sadie Nickles, Deepesh Sigdel, Ryan Smith, Tom Sun, Dylan Weaver

Carl and Brynn Anderson Travel Award 

Dallar Babian, Jenna Bologa, Ehsan Faridi, Tapesh Gautam, Arash Ghobadi, Pousali Ghosh, Vicky Kuhn, Creighton Lisowski, Charles Mentzer, Bo Yang, and Carson Ziemke 

Jayden Francois and Corey Valleroy each received the MU 2024 Award for Academic Distinction. This award recognizes extraordinary intellectual curiosity, seeking knowledge beyond the classroom, sharing that knowledge with public audiences, and contributing to the academic atmosphere at the University of Missouri. They were nominated by Professor Carlos Wexler and Associate Teaching Professor Silvia Bompadre, respectively.  

"This award demonstrates extraordinary intellectual curiosity, seeking knowledge beyond the classroom, sharing that knowledge with public audiences, and contributing to the academic atmosphere at the University of Missouri," said Bompadre. "Only 12 MU students were selected this year, and two of them are physics majors!"  

Established by students in 2014, this honor celebrates fellow Tigers who have gone above and beyond expectations. It is one of the highest honors MU offers based on academic distinction alone. Jayden Francois is a senior physics major from Kansas City, Missouri. Corey Valleroy is a senior double major in physics and mechanical engineering from St. Peters, Missouri.

Mizzou Astronomy graduate student Vicki Kuhn, a student of Associate Professor Yicheng Guo, has recently published her ground-breaking research on the evolution of spiral galaxies in the early universe in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. She presented her research and shared this discovery at the 244th American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) meeting held this summer in Madison, Wisconsin. In recognition of her exemplary research, she was awarded an AAS Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Award for her poster presentation on this research. 

The work of Guo and his research team led by Kuhn were highlighted in a Show Me Mizzou article. Guo's team discovered that spiral galaxies were more common in the early universe, as early as 2 billion years after the universe formed, meaning galaxy formation happened more rapidly than previously thought.

Their research was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters: “JWST Reveals a Surprisingly High Fraction of Galaxies Being Spiral-like at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 4.” Additional co-authors include Yicheng Guo, Alec Martin, Julianna Bayless, Ellie Gates and AJ Puleo. Citation: Vicki Kuhn et al 2024 ApJL 968 L15. This project was supported by University of Missouri Research Council grants and the Missouri Space Grant Consortium.  

Julianna Bayless and Ellie Gates presented their research using the James Webb Space Telescope to examine dark matter at the 2024 University of Missouri System Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol. The event gives students an opportunity to showcase their accomplishments and allows elected officials to see firsthand the exciting innovations taking place at MU and other system universities.

Teja Teppala, a fifth-year graduate student in the department, received the Sandra K. Abell Science Education Award and the Mary Elizabeth Gutermuth Award for Community Engagement from the Mizzou Graduate School at the 11th Annual Graduate and Postdoctoral Awards. The Sandra K. Abell Science Education Award recognizes the outstanding achievements of a graduate student pursuing PhD studies in any natural science discipline who has demonstrated a dual passion for research and teaching. The Mary Elizabeth Gutermuth Award for Community Engagement supports a graduate student who has a history of and interest in community service through engaged scholarship. 

Teja was tapped into the Rollins Society Class of 2024 at the 97th Tap Day at the University. Rollins Society is one of the six secret honorary societies at Mizzou. During Mizzou Tap Day, the Rollins Society inducts eight graduate and professional students whose record of service affirms the importance of the Society’s watchwords Officium (Duty), Fides (Faithfulness), and Ductus (Leadership).

Physics graduate student Teja Teppala and Vishvi Aurora, an undergraduate student pursuing a dual degree in biological sciences and physics, were two of four MU students selected for the second class of recipients to receive the Remington R. Williams Award from the University of Missouri System recognizing their service outreach at MU. The award is the highest non-academic award bestowed on students by the Board of Curators and is given in memory of Remington Williams and his outstanding service as student representative to the board from 2020 to 2022.  

Teppala serves as the outreach coordinator for the Physics and Astronomy Graduate Student Association and is co-lead for the Graduate Professional Council’s programming committee. He also is a leader of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ international student group. Vishvi serves as a student ambassador for the Office of Undergraduate Research and is a student representative for the Chancellor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities and an undergraduate representative for the Chancellor’s Committee for Libraries.  

Physics major and Mizzou Volleyball athlete Marina Crownover was selected by NASA to participate in a prestigious summer micro-internship at the John F. Kennedy Space Center. NASA selected only seven college students for the internship, with three MU student athletes chosen for the group. Katie Martinez, assistant athletic director for student-athlete career development at Mizzou Athletics assisted in the competitive application process. NASA’s Student Volunteer Experience is a week-long educational program designed for college students who are unable to participate in traditional summer-long internships because of other commitments. Crownover worked with some of NASA’s integration and vehicle systems engineers at KSC.

Image: Abeeb Ajibade, Dallar Babaian, David Beckwitt, Jacob Cook

Abeeb Ajibade received the Henry Mitchell Scholarship, funding him as a University of Missouri/University of the Western Cape exchange student for two months. Abeeb’s advisor is Xiaoqin Zou.

Dallar Babaian received an American Physical Society Division of Materials Physics Ovshinsky Travel Award in March and an MU Graduate School Professional Presentation Travel Award in April. Dallar’s advisors are Suchi Guha and Ping Yu. 

David Beckwitt received the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Research at the American Conference on Neutron Scattering in Knoxville, Tennessee held June 23 – 27, 2024. David’s advisor is Paul Miceli. 

Jacob Cook was selected for the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program. He is one of 86 graduate students selected nationally for this program. He will study materials sciences and chemistry for microelectronics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Jacob’s advisor is Guang Bian.

Tapesh Gautam placed second in the 40th annual Research and Creative Activities Forum poster presentation organized by the MU Graduate Professional Committee in April. Tapesh’s advisor is Sashi Satpathy.

Undergraduate student Elizabeth Conley and recent PhD. graduate Dylan Weaver, both of Professor Gavin King’s lab, won travel awards to present research at the 2024 Biophysics Society meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

Undergraduate students Cory Valleroy, Connor Nance, and Dylan Chiaro (pictured above) received Student Presentation Awards at the American Physical Society Prairie Section Fall 2023 Meeting.

Undergraduate students Ellie Gates and Mathieux Harper received Mizzou Forward Undergraduate Research Training Grants. These grants help finance STEM students already in established research programs to enhance their graduate school opportunities. 

Post-doc Dr. Katie Schaefer (Gavin King’s lab) received an early career microbiologist of the year award. This international recognition is from the Microbiology Society.