Named Funds

A.C. Anderson Undergraduate Research Scholar
This award supports summer research projects of outstanding undergraduate physics majors. The award is named for Ansel C. Anderson, an alumnus (PhD, 1961), faculty member (1962-1992), and department head (1986-1992). A condensed matter experimentalist, Professor Anderson made seminal contributions to low-temperature physics, particularly on the thermal properties of metals and glasses.

Arnold T. Nordsieck Award for Teaching Excellence in Physics
This fund supports an award for teaching excellence for faculty or lecturers in the Department of Physics and was endowed by family in memory of Arnold T. Nordsieck, a distinguished theoretical physicist and member of the faculty from 1947 to 1961.  

Charles P. Slichter Fellowship
This fellowship supports stellar graduate students who are engaged in promising original research. The fellowship was created by family, friends, and colleagues of Charles P. Slichter to recognize and carry forward his tremendous legacy at the University of Illinois, where he served 57 years on the faculty of the Department of Physics. Slichter exemplified science at its finest—creative, rigorous, curious, and scrupulously honest. He made ground-breaking advances in the fields of condensed matter physics and chemistry and is particularly noted for his pioneering use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to elucidate the structure and behavior of matter at the atomic scale.

Commonwealth Edison/Beryl Bristow Endowed Award
This award recognizes outstanding freshman or sophomore women physics majors. It was established by Commonwealth Edison in memory of alumna Beryl Bristow, the first woman to earn a both a bachelor's and master's degree in physics from the University of Illinois.

Donald C. and F. Shirley Jones Fellowship
This fund provides fellowship support for an outstanding physics graduate student. It was generously bequeathed by Donald Jones, an industrial physicist, and F. Shirley Jones, an astronomer, who were the parents of the late Lorella M. Jones, the first woman to attain tenure and a full professorship in physics at the U of I.

Doug and Judy Davis Award for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics
The Davis Award, which was endowed by Doug and Judy Davis, recognizes members of our faculty and academic staff for their excellent teaching in undergraduate physics.

Dr. Frank L. Lederman Award
This award, established by Dr. and Mrs. Frank Lederman, recognizes outstanding achievement by a graduate student in condensaed matter physics (both experiment and theory). Dr. Lederman earned his doctoral degree from Illinois Physics in 1975, having written two separate doctoral theses on solid state physics, one on his experimental work and the other on his theoretical work. Lederman went on to a long, successful career in industry. He is especially noted for having led the development of General Electric’s first medical ultrasound system.

Drickamer Research Fellowship
This graduate fellowship is awarded to a student who has demonstrated significant ability in research. The fund is named for Harry G. Drickamer, professor of physics, chemistry, and chemical engineering at Illinois and was established by his former students. 

Ernest M. Lyman Prize
This award recognizes the outstanding graduating senior physics major and is named for Professor Ernest M. Lyman, a distinguished researcher and world expert in electron scattering who maintained great interest in undergraduate physics teaching. Professor Lyman was one of the early proponents of computer-assisted physics education.

Felix T. Adler Award
This fund recognizes outstanding work by a physics graduate student in the area of nuclear physics or nuclear engineering.  Professor Adler held a joint appointment in Physics and Nuclear Engineering from 1958 until his retirement.

Gerald M. Almy Memorial Fund
This endowed fund, which was created in memory of Gerald Almy, Department Head from 1964-1970, provides support for educational and professional development activities for graduate students.     

Giulio Ascoli Award
This fund supports outstanding work by a graduate student in experimental high energy physics. Giulio Ascoli served the department with distinction from 1950 until his retirement in 1986.  The same student may receive the award for not more than three years. 

Hans Frauenfelder Colloquium Fund
This endowed fund, established in 2024 by friends and family of  Hans Frauenfelder, supports the annual Hans Frauenfelder Colloquium. Invited speakers will be leading scientists working in any subdiscipline of physics who exemplify Professor Frauenfelder's pioneering courage to break new ground in their research. A renowned physicist who helped to shape the nascent field of biological physics in the early 1970s, the late Illinois Physics Professor Emeritus Hans Frauenfelder is remembered by colleagues and students as a tireless, insightful innovator whose passion for science was contagious.

Jeremiah D. Sullivan Undergraduate Research Scholar
The Jeremiah D. Sullivan Award for Undergraduate Research was established by family, friends, and colleagues of Jeremiah Sullivan, a Professor of Physics (1973-2006) and Department Head (2000-2006) at Illinois. Professor Sullivan's scientific career superbly integrated pioneering research in both theoretical high-energy physics and in arms control and international security.

John Bardeen Award
This fund supports outstanding work by a graduate student in condensed matter physics or the physics of electronic devices. John Bardeen served as faculty in Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1951 to 1975. Bardeen was the first person to ever receive two Nobel Prizes in the same field.  

L.S. Edelheit Family Biological Physics Fellowship
This fund shall provide an annual graduate fellowship for an exceptional student in biological physics (experiment or theory).  This Fellowship was established through a generous gift from Illinois alumni, Lonnie and Susan Edelheit.

LabEscape Outreach Fund
LabEscape is a fun and educational escape room experience for families and groups offering a set of challenging physics-based puzzles.  It is an outreach program sponsored by the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois.  Donations will be used to cover the costs of operating the room and to provide opportunities for groups in the community to participate in the experience.

Laura B. Eisenstein Award
This award recognizes the year's outstanding woman physics student. Established by the Department of Physics in conjunction with the American Physical Society to recognize exceptional women physics students, the award is named for Professor Laura B. Eisenstein, a distinguished biological physicist who made seminal discoveries of the mechanism of light-energy transduction in biological molecules.  

Lewis C. Hack Scholarship
This award was established by a gift from Lois E. Hack in memory of her husband, Lewis C. Hack. Both the Hacks devoted their lives to teaching math and science in the public schools.

Lorella M. Jones Summer Research Award
This award supports summer research positions for outstanding undergraduate physics students and is named for Professor Lorella M. Jones, a theoretical high energy physicist who was the first woman to achieve tenure in the College of Engineering. In addition to being a superb researcher, Professor Jones was a dedicated and innovative teacher who was particularly interested in the early application of computers to physics education.

Mats Selen Outreach Achievement Award Fund
The Mats Selen Outreach Achievement Award supports an annual award in the Department of Physics for students who have participated in Physics outreach programs.

Mok Wing Ho Scholarship
This scholarship is named in honor of Madam Mok Wing Ho, mother of alumnus Dr. Yee Seung Ng (BS '74). It recognizes superior academic achievement as well as commitment to the field through participation in physics-related extracurricular activities.

Paul Jursinic Engineering Physics Scholarship
This scholarship was made possible by the generous support from Dr. Paul A. and Julie K. Jursinic. Paul received three degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: BS Engineering Physics 1969, MS Biophysics 1971, and PhD Biophysics 1977.   

Physics Van Fund
Gifts to this fund support the Physics Van, the department's student-run outreach program that brings the excitement of doing science to elementary schools throughout central Illinois. You gift allows the Van volunteers to design new demonstrations, purchase materials for existing demonstrations, and produce curricular materials to leave behind with teachers. Next year (2019) marks the 25th anniversary of Physics Van, the University of Illinois' most successful, and most explosive, science outreach program.  

Ralph O. Simmons Undergraduate Research Scholarship
Established by Ralph O. Simmons, Illinois Physics alumnus (Ph.D, 1957) and department head (1970-1986), this scholarship allows talented University of Illinois undergraduate students to undertake hands-on research summer research projects. In addition to his superb administrative and leadership skills, Professor Simmons made seminal contributions to experimental condensed matter physics, including to our understanding of point defects in metals and to definitive measurements of the thermodynamic, defect, and dynamical properties of prototype solids formed from noble and other gases, in particular solid helium.    

Renato Bobone Award
This award recognizes a physics graduate student who has demonstrated academic excellence. In accordance with the donor's wishes, preference is given to Italian citizens. This award was was endowed by alumnus Renato Bobone. 

Richard K. Cook Scholarship
This scholarship recognizes an undergraduate engineering physics student at the end of his or her sophomore year and was established by alumnus Richard Cook (PhD, 1935), a specialist in ultrasonics and acoustics, who spent his entire scientific career at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Science and Technology). 

Robert A. Stein Scholarship
This award was established in memory of alumnus Robert A. Stein (BS, 1955). Mr. Stein greatly valued the education in engineering physics he received at the University of Illinois, and his family and friends thought the best way to honor his memory was by providing similar opportunities to other students from the Chicago area.

Scott Anderson Award
This award recognizes the year's outstanding physics teaching or research assistants, and is named after alumnus Dr. Scott Anderson who founded Anderson Physics Laboratories in Urbana in 1944. It was through his initiative as president of our Physics Alumni Association and his generous philanthropy that the Anderson Award was endowed.   Historically this has been given to a TA for outstanding teaching but the award may also be used for an outstanding Research Assistant.

Steven M. Errede Award
This award recognizes outstanding work by a graduate student in the area of high energy physics. The award is named for Illinois Physics Professor Emeritus Steven Errede, who contributed to the discovery of the Higgs boson as part of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

Vijay R. Pandharipande Prize in Nuclear Physics
This prize recognizes the year's outstanding nuclear physics graduate student. Professor Pandharipande served with great distinction on our faculty for 34 years.

William L. McMillan Award Fund
This fund supports an award presented annually to a condensed matter physicist for distinguished research performed within five years of receiving the PhD degree. The awardees give a lecture as part of the colloquium series. The fund was established in memory of Illinois alumnus and faculty member Bill McMillan.