KU Physics Alumna Awarded Argesinger Dissertation Award

Dr. Sierra Seacat, who defended her PhD with honors in 2024, was awarded the Argersinger Dissertation Award for the best dissertation in the area of mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering. This Argesinger Award has been presented annually since 2021 and each year is given to just two students at KU. 

This is the first time a student from the Physics & Astronomy department was awarded this honor. Her academic advisor, Prof. Hartwin Peelaers, notes: "Sierra's dissertation work tackled fundamental challenges in the development of next-generation power electronics, especially focused on Ga2O3. Among other things, she designed a novel alloy with superior properties (compared to existing materials) to create high-power devices with Ga2O3 and uncovered the reason for a large discrepancy in the field between theoretical predictions and experiments." Sierra is currently working in the U.S. Naval Research Lab with a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship.