Scholarships and Awards

In addition to the many awards for physics research shown below, our physics undergraduates are often awarded SMU and national scholarships such as Dedman College Outstanding Senior, President's Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, etc.

Robert S. Hyer Award of the Texas Section of the American Physical Society

The Robert S. Hyer Research Award, of the Texas Section of the American Physical Society, is  presented each year to one recipient who must have been an undergraduate student when the research was performed, and that student's research advisor. The only criterion is excellence, including potential impact in the relevant scientific community. Robert S. Hyer was a physicist and founding President of Southern Methodist University.

Award Winners

Year	Student Name	Faculty Name
2020	Noah Pearson	Joel Meyers
2014	Mayisha Nakib	Jodi Cooley
2013	Landon Banister	Stephen Sekula

Frank C. McDonald Memorial Award

Frank C. McDonald memorial award based on merit in memory of Dr. Frank C. McDonald, chair of the Physics Department from 1941- 1962.

Prof. McDonald was remembered by his students for engaging them in the struggle to understand physics concepts and solve problems using those concepts. It wasn't about memorizing equations; it was about understanding what they meant in order to solve new problems or create new knowledge.

Award Winners

Robert Stewart Hyer Scholarship in Physics Award

Robert Stewart Hyer, was a physicist and the first SMU president.

Awarded to a student who performs at the highest academic level. In memory of Robert S. Hyer, physicist and first President of Southern Methodist University.

Robert Stewart Hyer was regarded in the physics community for his work with x-rays and wireless communication. He is the first American ever known to have transmitted a signal wirelessly over a distance of about 1 mile. He did this within a year of Heinrich Hertz's discovery of electromagnetic waves. Such experiments set the stage for the modern wireless communication revolution. President Hyer was one of the founders of SMU and his hand in the formation of our university can be seen across the campus, even today, as he set the standards still cherished by students at SMU: the school colors (Yale Blue and Harvard Crimson), the composition of the brick used in the campus architecture, and the design of Dallas Hall. Hyer served as a member of the faculty of SMU until he passed away in 1929.

Award Winners

Katherine Sams Wiley Physics Scholarship

Wiley Scholarship recipient Jasmine Liu (left) poses with Mrs. Wiley (right) in 2017.

Award based on merit to students at the sophomore level or above who are majoring in physics, with attention to women focused on science and engineering.

Award Winners

Jeff Chalk Physics Award

Given in honor of former SMU physics professor Dr. Jeff Chalk to a student who embodies Dr. Chalk’s passion for promoting the learning of physics.

Professor Jeff Chalk earned his PhD in Physics from University of Colorado in Boulder and served as a member of the SMU Physics Faculty for over 30 years. During that time, he had a tremendous influence on the teaching of physics and on the lives of students who took his classes. He was especially famous for dramatic demonstrations of core physics ideas. "He drinks liquid nitrogen!" exclaimed one student in a teaching evaluation. Jeff had a passion for physics that informed his teaching and inspired learning in his students.

Award Winners

Physics Undergraduate Scholarship

Hamilton Undergraduate Research Scholars

The Hamilton Scholars Program provides awards to faculty to support paid, hands-on research experiences for Dedman College undergraduate students. These awards enable them to collaborate with top faculty researchers and contribute to the creation of cutting-edge knowledge.

Award Winners

Year	Student Name	Mentors
2024	Joshua Ange	Joel Meyers
	Christopher Cook	Joel Meyers
2023	Ruhani Ahluwalia	Alexander Chase
	Joshua Ange	Joel Meyers
	Christopher Cook	Robert Kehoe
2022	Joshua Ange	Joel Meyers
	Amy Hermann	Monnie McGee
	Noah Randall	Steve Sekula
	John Ridge	Robert Kehoe
2021	Faith Fang	Jodi Cooley
	Stephanie Gilchrist	Stephen Sekula
	Ryan Guess	Pavel Nadolsky
	Andrea Reyes	Krista Lynne Smith
	John Ridge	Bob Kehoe
2020	Ryan Guess	Jingbo Ye
	Noah Pearson	Joel Meyers
	Andrew Reis	Allison Deiana
	Taylor Wallace	Jodi Cooley
2019	Ian Cohen, Elijah Cruda, Ahmed Muhammad, Zhengguang Wang	James Thomas, Andy Liu, Jingbo Ye
	Rebecca Moore	Stephen Sekula
	Taylor Wallace	Jodi Cooley
2018	Rachael LaCour	Jodi Cooley
	Jasmine Liu	Robert Kehoe
	Christina McConville	Robert Kehoe
	Madeline Hamilton	Pavel Nadolsky
2017	Moez Janmohammad	Stephen Sekula
	Jasmine Liu	Robert Kehoe
	Snigda Smriti	Jodi Cooley
2016	Andrew Posada	Jodi Cooley
	Moez Janmohammad	Jodi Cooley
	Nicole Hartman	Stephen Sekula
2015	Matthew Bruemmer	Jodi Cooley, Stephen Sekula
	Daniel Gum	Robert Kehoe
	Ashleigh Miller	Jingbo Ye

Robert Mayer Undergraduate Research Fellows

The Mayer Undergraduate Research Fellows Program has the goal of supporting Dedman College undergraduate students in pursuing ambitious interdisciplinary research with two faculty mentors from different disciplines, which integrates the perspectives of their major(s) and/or minor(s).

Award Winners

Year	Student Name	Mentors
2023	Joshua Ange	Rajani Sudan, Eric Godat
2019	Xixi Zhou	Fred Olness, Pawet Knuk