Senior Physics and Computational Math double-major Yash Gandhi, class of 2018, has been awarded an H. Y. Benedict Fellowship from Alpha Chi National Honor Society. Alpha Chi is a national honor society that was founded at Southwestern University in 1922, and is only open to the top 10% of juniors and seniors. Furthermore, only two Alpha Chi members from each university may be nominated to be awarded one of 10 fellowships awarded nationwide. The $3,000 in fellowship money will be used to help Yash attend graduate studies in Computer Science next year. Full press release here.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics and Environmental Studies Rebecca Edwards launched two ozonesonde instruments on weather balloons from the SU campus on March 30 and 31. She was assisted by mathematics student Morgan Engle, class of 2018, environmental studies students Lucas Evans, class of 2018, and Daniella De Souza, class of 2019, and alumnus Amy McKee ’96 and her family.  The launches are part of an experiment designed to evaluate the impact of the growing Austin Metro area on the air quality in Georgetown. Instrumentation carried by the balloons measures ozone, an air pollutant at the surface, as well as temperature and relative humidity. Each balloon reached an altitude of 30 km before bursting and provided valuable insight into the vertical structure of the atmosphere over the City of Georgetown.  Three more launches are planned for the month of April and all launches are open to all. This research was generously supported by a Green Fund grant.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Rebecca Edwards attended the 98th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, January 7–11 in Austin. She presented a poster titled “Peak Over Threshold Analysis of Heavy Precipitation in Texas” based upon work done with physics student Mady Akers, class of 2018. She also gave a presentation about this summer’s SCOPE project titled “The Balcones Escarpment Environmental Monitoring Experiment” during the Educational Symposium. Edwards was joined at the meeting by mathematics student Morgan Engle, class of 2018, who presented a poster about her Capstone research, “Insights into the Influence of ENSO on United States Gulf Coast Ozone Using a Surface Ozone Climatology.”