Physics graduate student Sergii Pershoguba, advised by Victor Yakovenko, has been awarded an Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship. The fellowship, created for students who are in the final stages of writing their dissertations, includes a stipend of $10,000, tuition remission and financial assistance towards the cost of health insurance.

Pershoguba works in theoretical condensed matter physics. He is currently studying the behavior of electrons in such novel systems as graphene, 2D surface of a topological insulator, CuO2 plane of a high-temperature superconductor. In nature, these 2D systems often exist as layers of the 3D crystals. His interests are in the unusual phenomena which occur due to the interaction between the 2D layers in 3D geometry.

In addition, Kaji Rajibul Islam was awarded a Distinguished Dissertation Award for Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering. Islam was advised by Chirstopher Monroe. His dissertation, Quantum Simulations of Interacting Spin Models with Trapped Ions, was completed and submitted in 2012.