Graduate Student Awards

Roy L. Champion Award

This award is offered annually to a continuing physics graduate student who has demonstrated outstanding research achievement. Nominations for this award should include the following:

• Nomination letter from the advisor
• Student’s CV
• Any useful additional supporting materials  

Nominations should be considered during the Annual Review of Progress in Research and should be submitted to the Graduate Studies committee by April 1 of each academic year.

 Recipients:
2025 - Robert Behary
2024 - Noah Donald and Kate Evans
2018 - Scott Barcus
2016 - Kurtis Bartlett and Peter Rosenberg
2015 - Hao Shi
2014 - Tommy Byrd and Christopher Triola

Rolf G. Winter Teaching Award

Offered annually to the graduate student in physics who has demonstrated dedication and excellence in the performance of his or her teaching responsibilities.

2025 - Nicholas Chambers
2024 - Mariami Bagishvili
2023 - Taylor Powell
2022 - Mikkie Musser
2020 - Evans Katherine
2019 - Justin Cammarota
2018 - Tangereen Claringbold
2016 - Andrew J. Pyle
2015 - Andrew Rotunno
2014 - Kurtis Bartlett
2013 - Charlie Fancher and Peter Rosenberg
2012 - Anne Norrick
2011 - Gardner Marshall and Christopher Triola
2010 - Joshua Magee and Austin Ziltz
2009 - Jeremy Weeden
2008 - Brian Glover
2007 - Kelly Kluttz
2006 - Christopher Maher
2005 - Jay Paquette and Nathaniel Phillips
2004 - Erin De Pree
2003 - Vahagan Nazaryan
2002 - Jennifer Wilkes
2001 - Christopher Kulp
2000 - Gwendolyn Smith
1999 - W. Jason Gammon and Dongmei Wang

Cheryl Griffiths Tropf Graduate Fellowship

This award, generously established by William J. Tropf, (BSc Honors '68), honors his first wife, Cheryl Griffiths Tropf (BSc. '68). It provides a one-semester Dissertation Fellowship along with a $500 research budget. It is potentially renewable for a second year, and is offered to an advanced graduate student (course work completed, who is fully engaged in research)  who would otherwise have to have a TA assignment, to allow them to concentrate fully on their research.

Past Recipients:

2026:  Nicholas DeStefeno

2025:  Mohsin Jamil

2024:  Tangereen Clairingbold

2023:  Olivia Chierchio

2022:  Haoyue Jiang

2018:  Chen Chen

2017:   Zhaozhu Li

2016:   Ellie Radue

2015:   Andrew J. Pyle

2013:   Megan Ivory

Dr. Betty Orick Sapp Memorial Award

This award is named in honor of Dr. Betty Sapp (W&M Physics BS ’64, MS ’66, PhD ‘74), and provides funds for an annual award for Physics graduate student travel, either to conduct original research or present results of their research at conferences or workshops.

Faculty advisors can nominate their graduate students for this award. Priority will be given to students without other travel funds available, and the criteria also include a) the student's research performance, based on annual reviews, b) the impact on the student's research and c) the profile/importance of the conference or workshop.

2014:   Charles Fancher and Austin Ziltz
2013:   Martin Rodriguez-Vega and David Johnston

Henry Krakauer Dissertation Award

This fund is established in memory of Professor Henry Krakauer, an exceptional Theoretical Condensed Matter Physicist and Respected Colleague, who served W&M from 1980-2023. This award is offered annually in recognition of an outstanding dissertation by a graduate student in physics.

Nominations for this award should include the following

• Letter from the advisor 
• Student’s CV
• Digital copy of the final dissertation
• Digital copy of the defense presentation
• Any useful additional supporting materials.  

Nominations should be considered during the dissertation defense committee and should be submitted to the Graduate Studies committee by August 1 at the end of each academic year.  Dissertations completed in the 12 months prior to the August 1 deadline will be considered for the award.

Recipients:
2025 - Ziqi Niu
2024 - Felipe Ortega-Gama
2023 - Siyuan Chen