Congratulations to Bri Billingsley: Winner of DOE SCGSR Award!
Please join us in congratulating our Graduate Student Bri Billingsley, who won the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award this year!
Through world-class training and access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources at DOE National Laboratories, SCGSR prepares graduate students to enter jobs of critical importance to the DOE mission and secures our national position at the forefront of discovery and innovation.
Bri is our 5th year graduate student, working with Prof. Tai Kong. Her research focuses on the novel synthesis and characterization of geometrically frustrated magnets with Archimedean lattice types and particularly the Shastry-Sutherland lattice. SCGSR program allows PhD students to work with a host in a national lab to perform research for their thesis from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of 12 months. Bri will be at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee for 12 months working with Dr. Huibo Cao in the Single Crystal Diffraction Group. She will be measuring neutron scattering on crystals she grew at UA while learning the analysis and modelling process to better understand the characterization and magnetic structure of the materials.
Bri also won the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP), as well as numerous prestigious awards, including the Galileo Circle Scholar, the College of Science Excellence in Service Award, and the UA Centennial Achievement Award. She also had a leadership role in Physicists for Inclusion and Equity (PIE). Serving as the mentorship coordinator for three years, she has significantly transformed the department’s mentoring program. As the president of PIE, Brianna has expanded her impact further by fostering a spirit of inclusivity and innovation. She introduced committees to encourage broader participation in PIE initiatives, empowering more students to take active roles in shaping the department’s culture. She has set an inspiring example of what it means to excel both academically and as a community leader.
Congratulations to Bri for her accomplishments!