Two Astronomy & Astrophysics graduate students honored

The Astronomy & Astrophysics Department has presented the Carl Sagan Award for Excellence in Teaching to graduate student Gilbert Holder, and the Donn MacMinn Award for Service Beyond the Walls of the University to graduate student L. Jonathan Dursi.

Students in Holder’s Nat Sci 101 class praised him in their evaluations of his teaching. One student wrote: “I would give 4.9/5 for Gil Holder.” Another wrote, “AWESOME! Everyone should’ve gotten to have him as a TA.”

Established in 1993, the Sagan Award is named for alumnus Carl Sagan, who died in 1996. Sagan earned four degrees from the University from 1954 to 1960. He was perhaps the world’s greatest popularizer of science, reaching millions of people through his work on the award-winning PBS series Cosmos, and the accompanying book, Cosmos (1980).

Dursi, who conducts research at the Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes, also volunteers at ACORN, a community action group that focuses on helping people living in poor neighborhoods learn to rebuild their community and become politically active.

The MacMinn Award was established in 1998 in memory of a graduate student in Astronomy & Astrophysics who was killed in a cycling accident in 1997. It was only after MacMinn died that the department learned of his outreach activities, mostly tutoring disadvantaged inner-city schoolchildren.nter for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes, also volunteers at ACORN, a community action group that focuses on helping people living in poor neighborhoods learn to rebuild their community and become politically active.

The MacMinn Award was established in 1998 in memory of a graduate student in Astronomy & Astrophysics who was killed in a cycling accident in 1997. It was only after MacMinn died that the department learned of his outreach activities, mostly tutoring disadvantaged inner-city schoolchildren.