Meet Two Inaugural Recipients of ΣΠΣ Leadership Scholarships

Logan Burnett

Inducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2023

Professor Renato Camata invited me to join Sigma Pi Sigma as a junior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). At first glance, I assumed it was like other honor societies that require a membership fee in return for a useless, extra line on my CV. However, after getting involved with UAB’s Society of Physics Students and seeing the widely underdeveloped community of passionate scientists in my own department, I found myself taking on the role of Sigma Pi Sigma chapter president.

While I strongly believe that drive and motivation are required to be a successful physicist, I noticed a lack of emphasis on community and collaboration among students in my department. In response, my fellow officers and I organized a graduate school information session. During the event, UAB alumni answered questions and demystified the graduate school for the undergraduates in our department and the greater campus community. This event is one reason I applied for the Sigma Pi Sigma Leadership Scholarship.

The scholarship is providing me with incredible financial support as I begin my graduate school journey. This fall I will be joining the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s nuclear engineering and radiological sciences department, focusing on developing digital twins to optimize microreactor design and quickly evaluate system fidelity across a range of operating conditions. Though I will not be a physicist on paper, the mathematical and physical intuition I have built through my physics education will be essential as I leverage advances in artificial intelligence to accelerate the deployment of nuclear reactors and thus our path to carbon neutrality.

In addition to pursuing a nuclear engineering degree, I plan to concurrently obtain my MBA and join the Air Force National Guard as an officer of nuclear engineering. I hope to use these experiences in tangent with my technical degree to maximize the reach and impact I can have on US energy independence and policy. I will be carrying the values and ideals I have built through UAB physics and Sigma Pi Sigma—including honor, encouragement, service, and fellowship—with me into the future.

Barkotel Zemenu

Inducted at Yale University, 2023

I came to Yale with a renaissance spirit, open to majoring in any subject ranging from history to math, philosophy to physics. I’m still unsure exactly why I decided to major in physics. Perhaps it was the influence of my impassioned professor or the thrill of tackling problem sets that were as challenging as they were rewarding. Perhaps it was the grad students who made me fantasize about pursuing a career in physics or the legendary Feynman lectures. Although I can’t pinpoint the reason I ultimately majored in physics, here are some of the reasons I decided to pursue it in graduate school.

I was fortunate to have incredibly encouraging mentors who were patient and consistently available throughout my four years. Venturing into physics research can feel like navigating foreign territory. It requires a lot of “learning how to learn.” My mentors taught me how to approach complex questions and how to formulate them. Without their encouragement, I doubt I would have such a deep fascination for the field.

Moreover, I was surrounded by a highly motivated group of physics enthusiasts who excelled in their work while maintaining a strong commitment to service. The SPS members in my chapter, researchers in my lab group, fellow undergraduates in my classes, and tenured scientists I met at conferences demonstrated that excelling in physics research and being dedicated to outreach were far from mutually exclusive. My role as copresident of the Yale SPS chapter allowed me to experience this balance firsthand.

Moreover, receiving recognition for my efforts—whether in research, coursework, or outreach—at the college and national levels encouraged me to stay on this path. Indeed, the Sigma Pi Sigma Leadership Scholarship was one of those key recognitions that affirmed my physics choice. It wove together many of the factors that drew me to the field—the encouragement from mentors, the fellowship with excellent peers, and the heart for service within a research career—adding an element of honor to these threads that have defined my four years in physics.