UA Physics Alumnus Brandon Friend and Current Student Hanga Andras-Letanovszky Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
Brandon Friend and Hanga Andras‑Letanovszky have been selected as recipients of the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP), recognizing their outstanding academic achievements and research potential. The NSF GRFP provides three years of funding over a five‑year period to support graduate research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines.
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Brandon Friend
Brandon Friend, a University of Arizona Physics alumnus, is continuing his academic and research journey at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he is working with Dr. Matthew Otten. While at the University of Arizona, Brandon was recognized for his academic excellence, receiving the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award in Physics in 2025.
In his current research, Brandon is investigating how recent improvements to quantum algorithms can be applied to nuclear lattice effective field theories. This work aims to reduce the estimated resource requirements and runtime needed for quantum computing to achieve practical, real‑world applications. His proposed NSF GRFP project focuses on developing methods to calculate collisional cross sections in warm dense matter (such as inertial confinement fusion) using quantum computing, beyond the capabilities of classical computing. Brandon plans to begin a related research project this summer.
Reflecting on his first year at Wisconsin, Brandon shared:
“I’ve been having a great first year at Wisconsin. I am enjoying my classes, and I’m excited to continue my research into the summer. There is a good quantum computing community here, and I’ll be attending the ‘Electronic Structure Workshop’ about quantum chemistry in June.”
Brandon’s work highlights the growing impact of quantum computing in addressing complex problems in nuclear and materials physics, and his continued success underscores the strength of the educational foundation built during his time at the University of Arizona.
Brandon Friend with an IBM Quantum Compuer
Brandon Friend in Chicago
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Hanga Andras-Letanovszky
Hanga Andras‑Letanovszky, a senior undergraduate student in Physics at the University of Arizona, has also been awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. She will graduate this spring as a triple major in Astronomy, Physics, and Mathematics, with minors in German and French, and was additionally selected as this year’s Outstanding Graduating Senior in Astronomy.
During her undergraduate studies at Arizona, Hanga has been conducting research with Professor Yancy Shirley at Steward Observatory, where she has worked for the past five years. Her research focuses on determining the relative evolution rates of a sample of starless cores, the earliest stage of star formation, by comparing the abundance ratios of organic molecules and their deuterium-carrying isotopologues in the cores to physical evolutionary parameters like core central density. This research forms the basis of her Honors Thesis, and Hanga soon plans on submitting a paper with her listed as first author.
Hanga’s NSF GRFP proposal builds on this work through a computational approach. By using physical evolutionary histories from pre‑existing magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations and post‑processing them with chemodynamical models, she aims to establish quantitative relationships between deuterium fractionation and core evolution rates.
Hanga Andras -Letanovsky at Griffith Observatory in LA
After graduation, Hanga will begin her PhD studies at the University of Michigan, where she will pursue a doctorate in Astronomy. Looking ahead, she shared:
“After I graduate, I’m off to the University of Michigan for a PhD in Astronomy! My current plan is to work with Prof. Ted Bergin on either my GRFP project or a project investigating astrochemistry in protoplanetary disks. I also plan to continue doing astronomy outreach at UMich, although I’ll definitely be back in Tucson for a few summers to be a counselor for the Astronomy Camp again. All in all, I’m super excited to see where my PhD takes me (and to finally live somewhere with cold winters)!”