UMD Establishes Jayanth R. Banavar Endowed Graduate Award for Excellence in Physics Research
The University of Maryland College Park Foundation, Inc. has established the Jayanth R. Banavar Endowed Graduate Award for Excellence in Physics Research to support a merit-based award for outstanding graduate students in the Department of Physics. Preference will go to students doing interdisciplinary research on natural phenomena—Banavar’s own research area.
The award is made possible by a lead gift from Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe, as well as additional donations from friends and colleagues of Jayanth Banavar, outgoing dean of the university’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS).
“The college has blossomed under Jayanth’s leadership,” Iribe said. “To honor his service, I have teamed up with members of the college’s Board of Visitors and members of the university’s Board of Trustees to create an award in his name, to support a student doing the kind of interdisciplinary physics research Jayanth has studied throughout his career.”
Banavar served as dean of CMNS from 2011 until his departure in 2017 to become provost and senior vice president at the University of Oregon. Prior to joining UMD, Banavar served as Distinguished Professor and George A. and Margaret M. Downsbrough Department Head of Physics at Pennsylvania State University.
Banavar earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Bangalore University and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pittsburgh. A fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Banavar has co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and 11 book chapters. He also holds three patents and has co-edited a book.
Additional donations to the Jayanth R. Banavar Endowed Graduate Award for Excellence in Physics Research fund can be made at go.umd.edu/banavaraward.
Those who would like to say farewell to Banavar and wish him well on his future endeavors may attend a celebration in his honor on Thursday, June 8, 2017, at 4 p.m. in the lobby of the Physical Sciences Complex. For more information and to RSVP, visit go.umd.edu/banavar.
