Celebrating our outstanding students Fall 2025

Every student here has their own unique journey.  Connor’s started 13 years ago when he entered the Physics PhD program.  But that was only part of the story. His  entire time at UCCS he was also a full-time employee at a local industry. Rising to the level of Chief Scientist, he often worked 60 or even 80 hours per week on just his industry job.  His research meetings for the PhD  were held by Zoom on Sundays and evenings.  His research for the PhD, unrelated to his industrial work, is excellent as demonstrated by  a referee comment in response to the submission of a recent manuscript to an  international journal -  “The scientific achievements and detailed characterization of the large frequency hysteresis are an outstanding result.”  It’s an understatement to say that this kind of referee comment almost never happens.  For his perseverance and for the quality of his work, the Physics Department is happy to award Connor Wood the title of Outstanding Graduate Student.

 

Brianne entered the Physics PhD program in 2017, earning her Master’s degree with a 3.95 GPA along the way in 2019.  Shortly after that, two things happened.  The pandemic hit in 2020 and her family moved to Germany as a result of her military husband being stationed there. During the pandemic Brianne was exceptional in her support of the department, teaching lab courses and writing lab assignments for Astronomy that could magically be done at home without any equipment.  While in Germany, her theoretical research for the PhD was done in her “spare time” as she was often the sole caregiver for her three children.   She would meet weekly by zoom at 5:00 AM (her time) with her two research advisors, one in the US and one in Australia.   Her research is outstanding, and her publications have already attracted substantial interest. There are no words that can properly describe her efforts, her contributions to the department, and the quality of her work.