The Markowitz Award is given to a graduate student who is conducting or developing a research program in areas of observational astronomy. The award is made possible by a generous gift from Ohio State doctoral alumnus Dr. Allan H. Markowitz (MS 1966, PhD 1969). 

 

This year, we award the Markowitz Award to Miqaela Weller. Miqaela has five first-author publications, and she is awarded for her central contributions to the premier cosmological measurements on the determination of the primordial helium abundance from LBT spectroscopic observations of metal-poor galaxies. Miqaela had multiple letters of nomination for this award, noting her independence and that she found better solutions than her advisors could on problems. They said her dissertation is "impressive for its variety of techniques and the importance of its results". Congratulations, Miqaela!