A&S Student News
2025 Distinguished Undergraduate Student Award
The College of Arts & Sciences at Texas Tech University proudly announces the inaugural recipients of the Distinguished Undergraduate Student Award: Madeline Leeah, Lily Johnson, Odin Schneider, and Cal Vinson. Honoring excellence in academics, leadership, and service, each student will be recognized at the Distinguished Awards Ceremony on April 24.
Graduate Student Finds Camaraderie While Researching Severe Storms
For Michael Brown, the emphasis on valuing people and a supportive research environment
made Texas Tech his ideal destination for graduate school.
Physics Professor-Student Duo Make Advancement with High-Achieving Paper
The latest full volume of a distinguished journal in quantum physics featured a paper
written by a Texas Tech professor and graduate student.
Doctoral Student Receives Prestigious Apple Polishing Award
This past weekend, Jessica Lawrence, a doctoral student of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Graduate Part-Time Instructor (GPTI) at Texas Tech, was awarded the prestigious
Apple Polishing Award by the TTU Mortar Board Forum Chapter. The award honors faculty
and staff who have had a profound impact on students' academic and personal development.
Jessica was nominated for her exceptional mentorship and dedication to student success.
Two Graduate Students Win First Place in the Three Minute Thesis Competition
The annual event held by the Graduate School helps students convey their complex research
topics to a general audience.
Doctoral Student's Paper Accepted for Publication in PRX Quantum
Victor Bradley, doctoral student of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, whose first-authored paper, “Quantum Wire Coupled to Light,” has been accepted for
publication in PRX Quantum, a leading journal in quantum information science and technology.
In the paper, Bradley, along with his PhD advisor Dr. DeGottardi and collaborators,
investigates the radiative properties of a finite-sized quantum wire in a microwave
cavity.
Graduate Student Wins Top Oral Presentation Award at APS Meeting
Graduate student Bilal Siddique, of the Biophysics group and Department of Physics and Astronomy, won the Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation Award at the Texas Section
of the American Physical Society meeting last week. Siddique was recognized for his
talk, “Cholesterol versus Sterols: The Solubility Measurement in Lipid Membranes.”
TTU Doctoral Student Earns Fellowships for Urban Planning Research
Omid Mansourihanis, doctoral student in the Department of Geosciences at Texas Tech University, has been awarded two prestigious fellowships for his groundbreaking
research and career in sustainable and equitable city development.
Graduate Students Shine
Two graduate students from the Department of Geosciences have recently received notable invitations and accolades, reflecting their dedication and achievements in their respective fields of study.
Tyler Danzig has been invited to present his NOAA-funded research as part of the Citizen Climate
Education Series. His presentation, titled "The Urban Heat Experiment Around Lubbock,
Texas (U-HEAT): An Exploration of Urban Heat Islands," will be held on Thursday, May
30, 2024, at 7:00 PM at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, 4600 48th Street. In addition
to this honor, Tyler recently won Second Place in the Poster Presentation Category
of the Joint Conference Student Competition at the 2024 American Meteorological Society's
104th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD.
Diya Das has been invited by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) to present within the AGU
Early-Career Science Seminar Series on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at 12:00 PM Central
Time. Her presentation is part of the seminar series themed "The Sky is Falling: Precipitation
Observations and their Role in Understanding the Earth System" and is titled "Witnessing
Rain: From Terrestrial to Celestial Realms." Furthermore, Diya has received a Travel
Grant Award to attend the 2024 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
in Athens, Greece, from July 7-12, 2024. She will present a paper entitled "Exploring
Spatial Variability of Precipitation Over the Semi-Arid Region of West Texas Using
Ground-Based and Satellite Remote Sensing Measurements Synergy."
A&S Banner Bearer Highlight
Baylie Jett-Mills, now alumna of the Department of English, has been selected from a pool of 146 international candidates to participate in the prestigious Summer Journal Internship of Sigma Tau Delta. According to Signma Tau Delata, starting May 15, she, alongside other interns, will undertake editorial responsibilities for accepted publications of Sigma Tau Delta Review, the organization's critical journal, and Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle, its creative journal.
This accomplishment adds to Jett-Mills' extensive list of achievements. She recently served as the Spring 2024 Commencement Banner Bearer for the College of Arts & Sciences. Graduating with a bachelor's degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, she also pursued minors in Communication Studies and Legal Studies.
In addition to her academic pursuits, she has earned TTU’s Undergraduate Writing Certificate and gained experience as a copyediting intern for the TTU Press. Furthermore, she is the esteemed author and illustrator of The Adventures of Max children's book series and has contributed to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series on three separate occasions.
Pictured to the left is Baylie's favorite book, Little Women.
Keeping Her Eyes on The Prize
The path to a Texas Tech diploma has not been easy for Hannah Nichols, but she never gave up, thanks to her young daughter. Nichols has secured a bachelor's degree in psychology from Texas Tech University. After shouldering a 19-hour load this semester, she walked across the stage during the College of Arts & Sciences commencement ceremony on May 10.
TTU Student's First-Authored Paper is Published by Physical Review Physics Education Research
Department of Physics & Astronomy-- Yaren Ulu's first-authored paper titled "Metacognition and epistemic cognition in physics are related to physics identity through the mediation of physics self-efficacy" was published in Physical Review Physics Education Research. The study analyzed data from Turkish high school students. The findings observed relationships among physics self-efficacy, recognition, interest, and physics identity, aligning with similar patterns found in other contexts.
TTU Student is Lead Analyst on Published Study
Department of Physics & Astronomy-- A team of 21 young scientists with interdisciplinary backgrounds, including Niramay Gogate, recently published their study in Nature - Scientific Reports on "Conventional and frugal methods of estimating COVID‐19‐related excess deaths and undercount factors". In this paper, they presented various methods for estimating mortality due to COVID-19 in Pune, and they further discussed how a simple crowd survey can be used to estimate these numbers, and the associated risks. The study was conducted as part of the JPF Analytics team, a dedicated organization to foster India's data culture.
Cosmic Curiosity
Elizabeth Veraa is an aspiring astrophysicist. Her journey in physics reflects her passion for learning and growing love of research. She recently won a first-place award at the 2024 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics for her research poster.
Research Makes Her World Go ‘Round
Texas Tech student Amaris McCarver received a prestigious award for her work in discovering a pulsar within a cluster of stars.
College of Arts & Sciences
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Address
Texas Tech University, Box 41034, Lubbock, TX 79409-1034 -
Phone
806.742.3831 -
Email
arts-and-sciences@ttu.edu