The annual fall meetings included briefings from Department Chair, Professor Paul Miceli, Director of Graduate Students Professor Suchi Guha, and Director of Undergraduate Studies Professor Silvia Bompadre and student updates. College of Arts and Science Dean Cooper Drury dropped by to talk about A&S topics and answer questions. The department selected undergraduate and graduate students to present on their research. The leaders awarded prizes to selected student presenters. A Friday evening social event included the presentation of student, faculty, and alumni awards.

The 2023 meeting was held October 10-11. Additional Friday briefings were given by some of the students. Julianna Bayless talked about Society of Physics Students activities and Vicki Kuhn summarized Physics & Astronomy Graduate Student Association (PAGSA) news.

Paul Miceli and Ronald Boain presented the Boain Dissertation Award for best doctoral dissertation to Dr. Katherine Schaefer.

Alumnus and Physics Leader Dr. James Seeser was selected as the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. As Jim was not able to attend, Paul Miceli presented the award via Zoom.

A founding and longtime Physics Leaders member, Dr. Seeser was recognized not only for his career and leadership and department contributions, but also for his work as a volunteer and philanthropist for numerous organizations including the Central Institute for the Deaf, the Washington University Program in Audiology and Communications Sciences program, FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, and Jennings High School.

The day concluded with dinner and an awards presentation.

Paul Miceli and Physics Leaders President John Shumway presented the 2023 Physics Leader’s Awards and student research awards. Ellie Gates and Julianna Bayless received the first place Outstanding Undergraduate Presentation award. Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation Awards went to Dallar Babaian, first place; Dylan Chiaro, second place; and Randy Burns, third place. Paul Miceli presented Faculty Recognition Awards to Silvia Bompadre, Suchi Guha, and Ioan Kosztin, and Haojing Yan

The 2024 Physics Leaders meeting was held October 11-12. In addition to the annual “state of the department” briefings, PAGSA President Dallar Babaian talked about graduate student activities over the past year and Society for Physics Students President Julianna Bayless updated the leaders on undergraduate activities. Chair Paul Miceli and Ron Boain presented the Boain Dissertation Awards to Randy Burns, first place, and to Ryan Smith, second place, over Zoom as they could not attend in person.

Faculty, students, and alumni enjoyed an evening of networking.

Paul Miceli and Physics Leaders Chair Vann Priest presented Outstanding Student Presentation Awards to undergraduates Evan Restuccia and Donovan Flagg who tied for first place, and to graduate students Tapesh Gautam, first place; Arash Ghobadi, second place; and Jenna Bologa, third place.

Chair Paul Miceli presented Faculty Enhancement Awards to Gavin King, Aigen Li, Deepak Singh, Carlos Wexler, and Ping Yu.

The special Physics Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Ronald Boain. Ron was recognized for his long and varied successful career in aerospace at TRW, Martin Marietta Aerospace, and JPL on many projects, such as optimizing trajectory designs for spacecraft, and working in critical programs such as CloudSat, for which he received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal.  Ron and his wife Catherine have also invested in our students through the Ronald J. Boain and Catherine J. Rangel Boain Endowment fund, the annual Boain PhD Dissertation Award in Physics, and the Boain PhD Student Travel Fund.