Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award in Experimental Particle Physics
This award recognizes exceptional early-career scientists who have performed original doctoral thesis work of outstanding scientific quality and achievement in the area of experimental particle physics. The annual award consists of $2,500, a certificate, travel reimbursement up to $1,500, and a registration waiver to receive the award and give an invited talk at a meeting of the APS Division of Particles and Fields (DPF), or a DPF session at APS April Meeting.
Rules and eligibility
Nominations will be accepted for any doctoral student studying at a college or university in North America including their study-abroad programs, for dissertation research carried out in the field of experimental particle physics. The work to be considered must have been accomplished as part of the requirements for a doctoral degree. First-time nominees for the 2025 award must have defended their Ph.D. thesis no earlier than September 1, 2023, and no later than August 31, 2024.
A candidate may be renominated once for this award in the year following their original nomination. In this case a new nomination package must be submitted to the Committee, stating that the candidate had been nominated the previous year.
Process and selection
The nomination package should include:
- A full copy of the nominee's PhD thesis, along with up to four publications and/or reports describing the work.
- A thesis summary of no more than two pages prepared by the nominee.
- A brief summary of the thesis suitable for distribution as the basis of an article in the popular press.
- A complete curriculum vitae of the nominee, including a list of publications.
- A nominating letter from the thesis advisor stating (a) the date of the thesis defense and the date the final thesis document was presented to the graduate school, (b) the role of the nominee in writing any parts of the thesis that have been published or submitted for publication (please identify these parts of the thesis), and (c) the specific contributions of the nominee, making comparisons with others.
- At least two letters supporting the nomination.
- Demographics form (if known/wish to specify age, gender, race, and ethnicity of the nominee)
Selection Committee
- Delia Cruz Nochebuena
Establishment and support
The award was established in 1999 in memory of Dr. Mitsuyoshi Tanaka with funding provided by friends and family.
Recent recipients
Charles Mark Lewis
2024 recipient
For the development of techniques expanding the low-energy reach of new particle detector technologies, with applications in neutrino physics, dark matter searches, and the study of charged-lepton flavor violating modes of muon decay.
Cristian Xavier Baldenegro Barrera
2023 recipient
For outstanding work on the measurement of strongly interacting color-singlet and photon exchange in proton-proton collisions at the LHC and development of the Forward Physics Monte Carlo (FPMC) generator.
Melissa A. Hutcheson
2022 recipient
For work on the construction and operation of the KOTO experiment to search for the decay KL->pi0nunubar.
Cristina Mantilla Suarez
2021 recipient
For thesis topic, “Probing New Physics Using Initial State Radiation Jets at the Large Hadron Collider.”
Bjorn Scholz
2020 recipient
For central contribution to the first measurement of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering.
The membership of APS is diverse and global, and the nominees and recipients of APS Honors should reflect that diversity so that all are recognized for their impact on our community. Nominations of members belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented in physics, such as women, LGBT+ scientists, scientists who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), disabled scientists, scientists from institutions with limited resources, and scientists from outside the United States, are especially encouraged.
Nominees for and holders of APS Honors (prizes, awards, and fellowship) and official leadership positions are expected to meet standards of professional conduct and integrity as described in the APS Ethics Guidelines. Violations of these standards may disqualify people from consideration or lead to revocation of honors or removal from office.