Graham Chambers Wall, a graduate student in the Department of Physics at Washington University, has been selected for one of the country’s most prestigious opportunities for young scientists: the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.
The SCGSR program is designed to prepare exceptional graduate students for successful careers in science and engineering critical to the DOE’s mission to solve America’s most pressing energy challenges. Awardees are able to spend 3 to 12 months conducting part of their thesis research at a DOE national laboratory, gaining hands-on experience, access to cutting-edge facilities, and mentorship from leading scientists in their fields.
“SCGSR is a unique opportunity for the next generation of scientists to gain hands-on knowledge and train with our best minds at the DOE national labs,” said Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the DOE Office of Science. Since its inception in 2014, the SCGSR program has supported approximately 1,300 graduate students in 170 universities across 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Awardees are selected from a wide pool of applicants through a rigorous merit review process. They represent the future of scientific leadership in fields critical to energy, national security, and fundamental discovery.
Graham Chambers Wall is one of just 79 students selected from across the U.S. for this year’s program. Graham will head to Los Alamos National Laboratory this fall to take part in the groundbreaking research environment that has shaped some of the most important scientific discoveries in history. His work will focus on calculations of nuclear electroweak observables using quantum Monte Carlo methods – critical for interpreting experiments that search for physics beyond the Standard Model, like those involving neutrinos.
“I will work on two projects developing higher-order corrections to calculations of nuclear observables for this effort,” he said. “The first is on lepton-nucleus scattering, and the second is on superallowed beta decay.” It’s an incredible opportunity not only to contribute to nationally significant research but to grow as a scientist in one of the most exciting research settings in the world.
We’re thrilled for Graham and can’t wait to see where this journey takes him – and what discoveries he helps make along the way!
A full list of this year’s awardees is available on the SCGSR Awards and Publications page.
