UA physics senior awarded fellowship worth up to $200K

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat Danielle Manuszak, physics senior, is surrounded by the Van de Graaff particle accelerator, which makes aero gels, the least dense man-made substance. NASA uses aero gels to catch micro-meteorites. Manuszak was awarded the National Physical Science Consortium Fellowships for her lab work in physics with physics professor William Bickel.

Danielle Manuszak, one of three University of Arizona students to ever be given the award, was evaluated on her interactions with people in the community and in the laboratory, said William Bickel, physics professor and Manuszak's adviser.

"It's a great statement on the measure of a person as a whole," Bickel said.

The fellowship program can be worth up to $200,000, said Alaina Levine, director of communications for the Physics Department. The recipients are required to commit themselves for six years toward the pursuit of a doctorate in their field.

"It's a great way to go to graduate school," Manuszak said.

Levine said the program offers paid tuition, normal student fees associated with a university and a yearly stipend.

Manuszak will also receive paid summer employment and technical experience for at least two years from one of the private or governmental corporations that serve as sponsors of the consortium.

She will be sponsored by the National Security Agency on graduation where she will be required to serve as a post-doctoral researcher for two years, Levine said.

Manuszak is a former NASA Academy research associate and is doing research in atomic physics, led by Bickel in the UA Physics Department.

She said she plans to continue her research this summer at the University of Lund in Sweden. There she will work with Physicist Indrek Martinson, a member of the Nobel Prize Committee.

Manuszak said she decided to major in physics after speaking to Bickel on what her options were during her freshman year.

"He's had a large influence in my work," Manuszak said.

Bickel, who has been Manuszak's mentor for 3 1/2 years, said the faculty are happy when their students receive this kind of recognition.

"It's a statement the Physics Department's faculty are doing the right thing," he said. "It means a statement for the university."

Manuszak said she considers the fellowship a tribute to the hard work she has put into her physics degree.

"I still have a long journey ahead of me," she added.

Levine said Manuszak was one of 16 recipients of the fellowship, out of 343 applications.

Bickel said that the applicants were the top students in the country who thought they might have a chance of winning.

"People who applied have already evaluated themselves," he said. Manuszak said she hasn't decided yet where she will go to graduate school.

She said she wants to receive her doctorate in physics. Manuszak plans to use her graduate degree to work as a research scientist and teacher for a university.

"It's a remarkable achievement," Bickel said.