The Manuel Schwartz Award

• The Schwartz award is an annual award, with a monetary prize, given to a graduate student (or students) completing his/her MS or PhD who has demonstrated excellence in all areas of graduate student involvement.

• The award is named for Manuel Schwartz, Professor of Physics at the University of Louisville, first in the Speed Scientific School and later in the College of Arts and Sciences when the Physics Departments merged. Dr. Schwartz obtained his PhD from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1953 and joined UofL in 1957. He was an early practitioner of Medical Physics research and taught a wide variety of physics courses. He served as Department Chair from 1969-1975 and, following retirement in 1987, remained active as an Emeritus Professor teaching until fall 2000. The endowment which bears his name was created by friends and colleagues upon his retirement, receiving significant additional funds upon his death in 2005. The Schwartz Award is usually presented at the end of year honor’s colloquium; for many years Dr. Schwartz had the pleasure of making the presentation himself.

• The winner of the award is selected by a committee consisting of the Graduate Program Director, Undergraduate Program Director and Department Chair. The committee meets towards the end of the spring semester and considers all graduate students who will be awarded their degrees either at the end of the spring or the following summer semesters and those students who received their degree at the end of the previous fall semester. The criteria used to select the recipient of the award include excellence in all aspects of graduate student departmental citizenship, including, but not limited to:
  • Graduate GPA
  • Performance of Teaching Assistant duties
  • Involvement in research groups within the department
  • Attendance and/or involvement in departmental activities, e.g. colloquia, Society of Physics Students.
  • Representing the department in University wide organizations, e.g. GSC and/or GNAS.
  • Demonstrated interest in Physics over other related fields (for example, choosing to take physics electives rather than engineering/chemistry/mathematics electives)
  If more than one student satisfies these criteria the committee may select more than one award recipient. Equally, if no student is deemed to have met the criteria, the committee may decide not to make an award that year.

Previous Schwartz Award Winners