Gabriel T Assumpção is the recipient of this year’s Yale Physics D. Allan Bromley Graduate Fellowship in Physics.
Assumpção’s citation reads, “For his unparalleled dedication and passion for teaching and mentoring in the context of building experimental skills at many levels: in outreach, in the instructional labs of Yale college and in the research lab.”
Gabriel G. T. Assumpção is a sixth-year graduate student working with Prof. Nir Navon.
As member of the first generation of graduate students in Prof. Navon’s lab, Gabriel helped design and build the group’s intricate experimental setup in the basement of SPL and has since been an avid mentor to new generations of graduate student, transferring the unwritten experimental skills necessary to build, run, and upkeep the complex custom-built machinery. Gabriel has also supervised a handful of undergraduates, devising projects in the lab that aligned to students’ diverse learning goals, and that developed proficiency and fostered a sense of responsibility.
Gabriel’s interest in teaching experimental techniques extended to the four semesters he was a teaching fellow for the advanced physics laboratory class. Besides teaching students, he extensively checked and debugged several experiments at least a month before each semester started, and kept many setups operational while the class was running. Previous to that, Gabriel was a leading TF for the General Physics Laboratory, editing and updating old rubrics, as well as enthusiastically teaching non-physics-major students, for which he got superb evaluations.
Throughout his time at Yale, Gabriel has also supplemented his interest in mentoring and teaching by pursuing courses at the Poorvu Center, including programs in mentoring in the lab and effective scientific teaching. Finally, in community outreach, whenever available Gabriel has been a volunteer with the Yale Physics Olympiad (YSO) and the Girls’ Science Investigations (GSI) programs.
The D. Allan Bromley Fellowship Fund for Graduate Research in Physics was established in 2005 to honor Professor D. Allan Bromley, Sterling Professor of the Sciences at Yale University and former Presidential Science Advisor to President George H. W. Bush. The fellowship was created by Bromley’s former students Joel Birnbaum (Yale Physics PhD ‘65), Joe Allen (Yale Physics PhD ‘65), and John Manoyan (Yale Physics PhD ‘87), because of their “deep affection and respect for” Bromley, in order to “memorialize his exceptional teaching and research career at Yale.”
The fellowship is awarded annually to graduate students in physics who have advanced to candidacy in the Ph.D. program, particularly those “who exhibit a broader interest than just physics, including, but not limited to, science and public policy, engineering, and applied science.” Candidates are nominated by the Physics faculty and selected by the D. Allan Bromley Professor of Physics (currently Keith Baker), the Director of Graduate Studies (currently Daisuke Nagai) and Chair (currently Karsten Heeger). The description continues, “In this way, the recipients will reflect and celebrate Dr. Bromley’s distinguished and honorable persona in the exceptional scope, standing, talent, and character of his distinguished personal, public, and academic life.”