Engineering graduate student receives 5 Sigma Physicist Award

April 1, 2020 - by Kim Delker

photo of Raju Ghimire
Raju Ghimire

Raju Ghimire, a doctoral student in the Nanoscience and Microsystems Engineering Program at The University of New Mexico, has been selected as one of 16 to receive the 5 Sigma Physicist Award, given by the American Physical Society (APS).

The 5 Sigma Physicist Award is awarded to APS members for “outstanding advocacy that is crucial to maintaining the strength of the scientific enterprise,” according to their website.

Ghimire, who is also a visiting Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin, helped design and implement a survey of international physics graduate students on their experiences with U.S. visa processes and their perceptions of the U.S. as a destination to study and work. He said his advocacy work would not have been possible without the support of his advisors Mehran Tehrani, formerly of UNM and now at UT Austin, and Yu-Lin Shen, professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UNM. Additional information about the 2020 winners can be found online.