Physics Undergraduate Honors and Awards
An upper-class physics major who has demonstrated superior academic ability may earn Honors in Physics in one of two ways.
Research Work
With departmental approval, the student enrolls in PHYS 498 - Physics Honors, for a full- or half-course load. The student then works closely with a faculty member on a research project agreed upon by the faculty member, for a total of at least four credit hours. The results of this project are presented in a senior thesis defended by the student at a departmental seminar. A successful defense demonstrating a superior research competence and mastery of the subject earns the recognition of distinguished independent work in physics. Further details are available from the department.
Coursework
The student successfully completes PHYS 424 Honors Quantum Mechanics and PHYS 425 Honors Electrodynamics, both with a grade of B or better. In addition, the student successfully completes a capstone project. The capstone project is prepared under a faculty member's supervision while registered for a four-credit independent study (PHYS 597). Each course for this option is taken as 4 credits unless specified otherwise. Further details are available from the department.
Undergraduate Physics Senior Honors Thesis:
- Russell Berger
- Travyse Edwards
- Peter Malinverni
- Max Meyers
- Mo Li
- Jake Montgomery
- Mubarrat Mursalin
- Randy Owen
- Melissa Popeil
- Liam Schmidt
- Tiago Sereno
- Peter Tomlinson
- Silas Wieland
- Shehtab Zaman
- George E. Moore Award for Academic Achievement in Physics
This award is given annually to an outstanding senior physics major. This award was established to honor the late George E. Moore, a professor in the department for a number of years, by his wife. The award is based on academic achievement, research work and an overall dedication to physics.
Recipients:
- Spencer Mattes (2024)
- Simon O'Connor (2023)
- Kaveen Sandaginpathira (2022)
- Michelle Beaulieu, Russell Berger, and Orlando Santiago (2021)
- Peter Tomlinson and Randy Owen (2019)
- Xue Dong and Samuel Stromswold (2018)
- Jaymes Flournoy and Matthew Petryk (2017)
- Itai Maimon (2016)
- Zachary Lebens-Higgins (2015)
- Rostislaav Grynko and Zachary Tuchfeld (2014)
- Anthony Frachioni (2013)
- Sungoh Park and Mellissa Stanke (2013)
- Mikhail Davydov and Gabriel Lotto (2012)
- Mark Dello Stritto and James Ng (2011)
- Jiri Stehlik (2010)
- Timothy White and Matthew Dornfeld (2009)
- Colby Chiauzzi (2008)
- Jeffrey Berger and Alessandra Borgia (2007)
- Joshua Wickman (2006)
- Robert J. Penfield Award for Academic Promise in Physics
The Robert J. Penfield Award is given each spring to a Physics Junior who has shown high interest and outstanding academic promise in Physics. Robert Penfield earned his PhD at Syracuse University in 1952. He dedicated the next 40 years to teaching and advising undergraduate students at Binghamton University. When he joined the faculty, we were known as Harpur College, which was located in Endicott. When he retired, we were Binghamton University here in Vestal.
Recipients:
- Tristan Galler (2024)
- Erin Delargy (2023)
- Max Meyers (2022)
- Kaveen Sandaginpathira (2021)
- Matthew Krebs and Robert Beblavy (2019)
- Bradley Phelps, Melissa Popeil, Peter Tomlinson, Shehtab Zaman (2018)
- Xue Dong (2017)
- Jaymes Flournoy (2016)
- Richard J Barley, Edward Kicsak and Matthew Petryk (2015)
- Scott Fennelly, Zachary W. Lebens- Higgins and Darin Mihalik (2014)
- Zachary Tuchfeld (2013)
- Anthony Frachioni (2012)
- Mikhail Davydov (2011)
- Gabriel Lotto (2011)
- Mark Dello Stritto (2010)
- James Ng (2010)
- The Brownridges' Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Recipients:
- Hannah Park (2024)
- Paul DePola (2023)
- James McAllister and Max Meyers (2022)
- Russell Berger and Max Meyers (2021)
- Keith Tirpak (2019)
- Sigma Pi Sigma
Sigma Pi Sigma, a chapter of the National Physics Honor Society, has existed in the department for many decades. The physics major who has achieved a grade-point average in physics of 3.2 or higher in addition to an overall grade-point average of 3.0 or higher are invited to join this prestigious society in their junior or senior year. All students who accept the invitation to join are inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma at a ceremony in the spring.
Recipients:
- Jack Agnes
- Christopher Angyal
- Eric Aspling
- Richard Barley
- Kevin Batzinger
- Robert Beblavy
- Madelynn Bigler
- Steven Blum
- Kyle Braman
- Russell Berger
- Scott Brennan
- John Carnevali
- Douglas Chadwick
- Anthony Conte
- Henry Corbin
- Xintong Ding
- Elizabeth Faulkner
- Vincent Cuda
- Dennis Dempsey
- Galo Paez Fajardo
- Matthew Ferrar
- Howard Friedman
- Tristan Galler
- Brandon Gallipoli
- Mohammed Genanu
- Ioannis Giannakis
- Madeline Greenier
- Rostislav Grynko
- Samad Hajinazar
- Connor Harrison
- Corbin Henry
- Noam Hiltzik
- Victoria Himelstein
- Wai-Ga Ho
- Nancy Huang
- Mustafa Ibrahim
- Md Ariful Islam
- Taylor Juran
- Brennan Kaisen
- Hunter Karmel
- Michael Katz
- Jake Kaufman
- Mariam Kavai
- John Kern
- Saba Kharabadze
- Jason Kiernan
- Michael Kim
- Eric King
- Sarah Koniewicz
- Ekaterina Koulakova
- Simon Kraatz
- Margarita Kraynova
- Matthew Krebs
- Robert Lee
- Brandon Lew
- Mo Li
- Mary Mahoney
- Itai Maimon
- Peter Malinverni
- Deborah Mariottini
- Spencer Mattes
- Ana McKiernan
- James McAllister
- Jeremy Mehta
- Sara Mohamed
- Mary Morey
- Francis Mutuku
- Chad Nelson
- Orrin Noble
- Denis O'Byrne
- Tiago Oliveira
- Scott Opponheimer
- Christopher Owen
- Randy Owen
- Sitaram Panta
- Frank Pantano
- Matteo Patrone
- Hari Paudyal
- Matthew Petryk
- Bradley Phelps
- Vincent Plisson
- Adam Ramadan
- Mathew Reed
- Adam Rogers
- Jared Rokitowski
- Todd Rutkowski
- Alicia Romano
- William Ryan
- Michael Sabatino
- Ernesto Sandoval
- Felix Saouma
- Zaheen Sarker
- Michael Schauber
- James Scheuermann
- Danial Mokhtari Sharghi
- Stuart Shepard
- Robert Shepard
- Paresh Shimpi
- Katerina Simons
- Christopher Singh
- Jake Smith
- Ashley Talbot
- Terence Tarnowsky
- Charlsey Tomassetti
- Peter Tomlinson
- Eugene Torigoe
- Michael Trager
- Benjamin Ueland
- Zachary Waldman
- Linda Wangoh
- Laura Weiss
- Joshua Wickman
- Siu Ka Wong
- Andrew Ying
- Ruiqi Zhang
- Yuxuan Zhang
