Eric Coughln has been named winner of the 2016 Ph.D. Thesis Prize from the High Energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics Division of the International Astronomical Union. He will receive the prize at the next IAU General Assemply, which will be held in Vienna in August 2018. Coughlin is also winner of the 2017 Dissertation Prize from the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society.
The IAU Thesis Prize consists of a grant (including airfare, one week accommodation, and registration fee) to attend the IAU General Assembly where his prize certificate will be awarded. The next IAU General Assembly will be held in Vienna August 21–30, 2018. There he will have the opportunity to present his thesis work in one of the General Assembly sessions.
Coughlin, who is currently a NASA Einstein Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, received his Ph.D. in 2016 from the University of Colorado Boulder. His thesis advisor was JILA Fellow Mitch Begelman.
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.