July 24, 2020, by Dr. Meghan Gray
A different sort of graduation: #WeAreUon
Normally graduation is a much anticipated day in the academic calendar: nibbles, speeches, and photos with students and friends at the Physics reception, followed by pageantry and funny hats at the official ceremony. It’s a chance to celebrate and acknowledge achievement, and it’s also a chance to say goodbye.
Of course nothing is ‘normal’ at the moment, so today we had a graduation that was memorable for different reasons. On a Teams video call with (inevitably) dodgy internet connections but still an admirable number of silly hats, we celebrated all our graduating physics students – virtually.
Was great to have the opportunity to congratulate #ClassOf2020 #UoNPhysics for their amazing achievements, and present a few prizes, despite Microsoft’s best efforts to prevent it.
(This, by the way, is the smartest I have ever dressed for a Teams meeting.)#WeAreUoN pic.twitter.com/iz4Rk8eYYp
— Michael Merrifield (@AstroMikeMerri) July 24, 2020
We also took the chance to note the additional accomplishments of our prizewinners:
- Barton Prize for highest marks on the BSc degree: Josephine Mellor and Tizayi Zirereza
- Bill Moore Prize for best BSc project: Sakina Hansen, Royintan Dhatigara, and Patrick Murray
- Salmon Prize for best MSci project: Daniel Wray and Ruadhan Parnell
- Salmon Prize for highest marks on MSci degree: Hugh Baxter and Joshua Eglinton
- George Green Prize for outstanding BSc Mathematical Physics student: Tarun Shah
- Tessella Prize* for the best 3rd or 4th year project involving computational work: Hugh Baxter and Adam Zwolinsky
- Thomas Farr Citizenship award: Natalie Rhodes (PhysSoc president)
*Special thanks to Tessella for their ongoing sponsorship of the Tessella Prize.
And it wouldn’t be a virtual event without a hashtag – staff members also contributed video greetings to the #WeAreUoN social media feed throughout the day. From the serious to the not-so-serious…..
And here’s Dr Simon Dye showing off his filmmaking skills in this video message (ft musical interlude!): pic.twitter.com/hgEejvbinq
— UoN Physics (@UoN_Physics) July 24, 2020
Congratulations Class of 2020!
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