Assistant Professor Danielle Speller received the 2024 Joseph A. Johnson Award for Excellence from the American Institute of Physics and the National Society of Black Physicists. Speller is recognized for neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter research and for mentoring the next generation of aspiring physicists. “Dr. Speller not only explores the secrets of the universe but also shares them through science outreach and mentorship,” said Michael Moloney , CEO of AIP.

Professor and Department Chair Bob Leheny became a 2024 recipient of the American Physical Society Division of Soft Matter Fellowship. His citation reads “for elucidating dynamics of colloidal glasses, nanoparticles in polymer matrices, liquid crystals, and interfacial layers, employing XPCS and active microrheology.”

The Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society has posthumously awarded Paul Feldman with the 2024 Kuiper prize for outstanding contributions to planetary science. The Division also awarded David Sing with the 2024 Alexander Prize for a mid-career scientist who has made outstanding contributions to our knowledge of planetary systems.

Assistant Professor Kevin Schlaufman has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his research focused on Population III stars titled “The Most Ancient Stars in the Milky Way.” The NSF CAREER Awards are given in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors in the context of their organizations’ missions. The awards, presented once each year, include a federal grant for research and education activities for five consecutive years. 

Professor David Kaplan and Associate Professor Surjeet Rajendran are recipients of the 2024 Frontiers of Science Award in Theoretical Physics awarded by the International Congress of Basic Science. The award recognizes a publication that they co-authored with Peter W. Graham titled “Cosmological Relaxation of the Electroweak Scale” as a breakthrough in its field of cosmological evolution.