NEWS

Louisiana Tech University Physics doctoral student Devika B. Pathak has been awarded a fellowship from the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) for the 2019-20 academic year.

Pathak is one of only nine students nationwide to earn the prestigious Jefferson Sciences Associates/Jefferson Lab Graduate Fellowship. She will work with her Louisiana Tech mentor, Dr. Rakitha Beminiwattha, assistant professor of physics, and scientists at the Jefferson Lab to continue her research in parity violating electron scattering experiments and will work to discover novel properties of particles and nuclear matter.

Pathak earned the award due to the quality of her research proposal, her academic standing, and references she received both from professors at Louisiana Tech and senior scientists at the Jefferson Lab.

Beminiwattha, says that the fellowship illustrates Pathak’s commitment to the success of studies at the lab. “Devika is a smart student who has already contributed, designing experiments at Jefferson Lab over the last three years, and she has worked very hard to earn this fellowship.”

The Jefferson Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory that provides scientists with opportunities to study particles using the lab’s unique particle accelerator, known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility. In addition, the lab capitalizes on its unique technologies and expertise to perform advanced computing and applied research with industry and university partners, and provides programs designed to help educate the next generation in science and technology.

The Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. (SURA) Board of Trustees first established the fellowship program in 1989. The program, now supported by the Jefferson Sciences Associates Initiatives Fund, contributes to the student’s research assistant stipend, and additional funds are available for research-related travel for the student during the fellowship period. All fellowship recipients attend universities that are members of SURA, a consortium of 60 leading research universities. Since the program’s inception, 225 fellowships have been awarded to students from 22 different SURA member universities. SURA built and operated Jefferson Lab, before becoming a partner of Jefferson Science Associates.