Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award
This award recognizes exceptional early-career scientists who have performed original thesis work of outstanding scientific quality and achievement in the area of plasma physics. The award consists of $2,000, a certificate, and a registration waiver to give an invited talk on the recipient’s doctoral research at the annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP), and receive the award at the DPP awards banquet.
Rules and eligibility
Nominations will be accepted for any doctoral student of a college or university in the United States or for a United States student abroad who has successfully passed his/her final thesis defense within the preceding 24 months of the current nomination deadline. The work to be considered must have been performed as part of the requirements for a doctoral degree. Nomination packages should include a copy of the candidate's thesis. Nominations will be considered for two review cycles provided the nominator re-certifies the nomination before the next deadline. Updated letters of support may be submitted for the second cycle.
Process and selection
The nomination package should include:
- APS Prizes and Awards nomination form (nominee’s contact information, thesis date).
- Your letter of not more than 1,000 words evaluating the nominee's qualifications for the award.
- At least two, but no more than four, seconding letters of not more than 1000 words each. Primary and seconding letters exceeding 1000 words will not be considered in the evaluation of nominees.
- The nominee's thesis.
- A list of the nominee's publications and presentations related to the thesis.
Selection Committee
- Peng Zhang (Chair)
- Felicie Albert
- Nathaniel Fisch
- Dustin Froula
Establishment and support
This award was established in 1985 (originally as the Simon Ramo Award and formerly as the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Plasma Physics Award) and endowed in 1997 by General Atomics Inc.
Recent recipients
Ian Emanuel Ochs
2023 recipient
For developing rigorous constraints on charge extraction across magnetic fields and powerful theorems relating lower hybrid current drive to alpha channeling, and for studying unusual transport effects with diverse applications in multi-species magnetized plasmas.
Alison R. Christopherson
2022 recipient
For theories of fusion alpha heating and metrics to assess proximity to thermonuclear ignition in inertially confined plasmas, and for the development of a novel measurement of hot electron preheat and its spatial distribution in direct-drive laser fusion.
Elizabeth Paul
2021 recipient
For pioneering the development of adjoint methods and application of shape calculus for fusion plasmas, enabling a new derivative-based method of stellarator design.
Yuan Shi
2020 recipient
For elegantly describing three-wave coupling in plasma modified by oblique magnetic fields, identifying applications including plasma-based laser amplifiers, and adapting quantum field theory to describe plasma physics in the strong-field regime.
Noah Hurst
2019 recipient
For the development of electron-plasma-based techniques to study two-dimensional vortex dynamics in the presence of strong external flows and for investigation of the stability and self-organization of vortices in strain flows.
The membership of APS is diverse and global, and the nominees and recipients of APS Honors should reflect that diversity so that all are recognized for their impact on our community. Nominations of members belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented in physics, such as women, LGBT+ scientists, scientists who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), disabled scientists, scientists from institutions with limited resources, and scientists from outside the United States, are especially encouraged.
Nominees for and holders of APS Honors (prizes, awards, and fellowship) and official leadership positions are expected to meet standards of professional conduct and integrity as described in the APS Ethics Guidelines. Violations of these standards may disqualify people from consideration or lead to revocation of honors or removal from office.