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About the John N. Bahcall Physics Award

 

In 2009, Drs. Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz (UCSC) and Neta Bahcall (Princeton U.) established the John N. Bahcall Physics Award for top Mexican physics students to spend a summer studying astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Bahcall, who died in 2005, was an eminent astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where Enrico hold a postdoctoral fellowship.


The program is managed by the non-profit organization “Fundación Hertel” in Mexico, which organizes a national physics competition every year to select the winners of the John N. Bahcall (UCSC) and the Leon Lederman (Fermi Lab) Awards. Since 2009, ten students from Mexico and Latin America have been awarded summer research programs, and seven different UCSC faculty members have been involved in supervising or co-supervising them.

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Read about the John N. Bahcall Physics Award establishment here

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Former winners:

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  • 2009: Diana Madera (Universidad de Zacatecas). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz, Laura Lopez and Tesla Jeltema.  

  • 2010: Rodolfo Navarrete (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz.

  • 2011: Diego Gonzalez (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México).  Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz.

  • 2012: David Aguilera (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz.

  • 2013: Alejandro Vigna Gómez (Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz and Mark Krumholz.

  • 2014: Martín Velázquez. (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez- Ruíz.

  • 2015: Atalia Navarro Boullosa (Universidad de Guanajuato). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz and Gabriela López.

  • 2016: Irvin Fabián Martínez Rodríguez (Universidad de Guanajuato). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz.

  • 2017: Priscila Camacho Olachea (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California).  Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz.​

  • 2018: Jaime Román Garza (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez- Ruíz.

  • 2019: Karen Macías Cárdenas (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez- Ruíz.

 

Other participants of the summer program:

 

  • 2011: Rodrigo Sacahui (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Supervised by Robert Johnson and Bill Atwood.

  • 2011: Paola Altamirano  (Universidad de Honduras). Supervised by Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz

  • 2012: Anahí Caldu Primo (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Supervised by Raja Guha Thakurta.

  • 2012: Andrés Suárez Madrigal  (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey). Supervised by Mark Krumholz.

About the Sponsors

Enrico Ramírez-Ruíz is a professor in the Astrophysics and Astronomy Department at the University of California Santa Cruz. He did his undergraduate studies at UNAM in México and then went to the University of Cambridge for graduate school. Enrico was the first recipient of the John N. Bahcall Fellowship, established after Bahcall’s death to support outstanding postdoctoral scholars at the Institute. He is one of the most recognised astrophysicist worldwide, and as part of his compromise to mexican society, he wants to provide other talented mexican students with early career opportunities to develop their full potential.

Neta Bahcall is professor of astrophysics at Princeton University, where she is the director of the undergraduate program in astrophysics. Neta Bahcall  is John’s N. Bahcall widow, and inspired by Enrico’s career she helps other Mexican students to succeed.

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