Talia Weiss, graduate student in physics and a member of Yale’s Wright Lab working in the Karsten Heeger group on the Project 8 experiment, is a co-receipient of the Yale Physics 2022-2023 D. Allan Bromley Graduate Fellowship in Physics, along with Wright Lab Ph.D. alum Hannah Bossi, ‘23.
According to her citation, Weiss was awarded the fellowship “for her creation and leadership of the Kimball Smith Series, [which] explores the intersection of technology, ethics, and global affairs, and [for her] expansive resume of science communication, science policy, public service and outreach activities.”
Weiss was nominated by Daniel Prober, for whom she was a Teaching Assistant in his first year seminar, Science of Modern Technology and Public Policy. Prober said, “She has been understanding of the varied student backgrounds, pushed them to do their very best, and mentored the truly outstanding student group presentations.”
Prober continued, “Her advocacy of new topics for the policy part of the course has been very beneficial. In addition, she picked up on the visitor I had invited to guest lecture, Sasha Brown of Google DeepMind, and built a great conference meeting around her work leading the Ethics Committee at DeepMind.”
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 Prof. 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” Prof. 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) and the Director of Graduate Studies (currently Daisuke Nagai). The indenture goes on to say, “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.”