Prizes & Awards

March Meeting Poster Prize Winners

The Division of Soft Matter will also sponsor March Meeting Poster Prizes for students who present exemplary posters at the APS March Meeting 2024. To be considered, posters must be submitted to a DSOFT sorting category, and the student and the student's main advisor must be members of DSOFT in good standing.

Judging will be based on the following criteria:

• Scientific content (validity/importance/interest of results, timeliness, etc.)
• Overall quality (aesthetics, clarity, etc)
• Oral presentation/discussion with judges

Winners will be notified at the public DSOFT Business Meeting and will receive their certificate and checks after the March Meeting. The award amount is $300.

2025 Winners

DSOFT had three poster-prize winners at the APS Global Physics Summit 2025.

Congratulations to:

1st place: Zachary Brooks Howe, Auburn University
2nd place: Nadia Nikolova, University of Illinois Chicago
3rd place: Nolan Miller, UMass Amherst

“I had a wonderful time at the March Meeting. During my poster session, I was able to talk to members of DSOFT and make some great connections, it is a supportive community that I would love to become more involved in. I am interested in continuing to make connections between the fields of dusty plasma and soft matter physics, and I hope that we are able to start cross-disciplinary collaborations to make exciting discoveries and innovations in that vein. I am also passionate about using data science and machine learning techniques in research to create useful simplifications of high-dimensional data and even uncover new theoretical descriptions, as is showcased in my March Meeting poster. Lastly, I would thank all those who stopped by my poster, as well as the judges for honoring me with the poster award. Receiving this award only strengthens my drive to continue this interdisciplinary work!”

Brooks Howe, from Auburn University.

“I am honored to have received a DSOFT Poster Prize for my work on the complex and enthralling rheology of Eggless Vegan Food Emulsions! It was a privilege to present my work and engage in insightful discussions throughout the conference. I am so passionate about meticulously dissecting the rheology foods to consider various formulation alterations that achieve the desired texture, consistency, and mouthfeel. I learned an insurmountable amount of knowledge from the discussions throughout the week on my topic and others. APS reconnected me with old friends and introduced me to new ones, creating opportunities to network, exchange ideas, and explore exciting paths. Thank you to the judges and March Meeting attendees for super exciting and intriguing conversations. I look forward to the opportunity to connect on scientific pursuits and I am excited for what is ahead!”

Nadia Nikolova, from University of Illinois Chicago.

"Presenting my work on solvent transport in bottlebrush networks at the APS March Meeting was a great way to connect with the soft matter community. The discussions I had while meeting new and former colleagues were insightful and inspired new ideas for my research. I am honored to receive the DSOFT Poster Prize as I continue pursuing a career in academic research."

Nolan Miller, from UMass Amherst.