Marcus ’13 Honored by American Physical Society for Wesleyan Thesis

Guy Geyer Marcus ’13 has won the Leroy Apker award for the American Physical Society, the highest prize offered in the United States for an undergraduate thesis in physics.

Marcus is the second Wesleyan student to win the prize in three years; Wade Hsu ’10 also claimed the prestigious award. In 2008, Gim Seng Ng ’08 was a finalist for the Apker.

“This achievement naturally highlights the quality and seriousness of our undergraduates and our undergraduate program,” said Physics Department Chair Brian Stewart.

Marcus’  Wesleyan advisor was Greg Voth, associate professor of physics.

Marcus is working toward a Ph.D in theoretical physics at Johns Hopkins University. His prizewinning thesis was titled: “Rotational Dynamics of Anisotropic Particles in Turbulence: Measurements of Lagrangian Vorticity and the Effects of Alignment with the Velocity Gradient.”

He also received a Goldwater Honorable Mention award and a Wickham Scholarship for his research in 2011.