Brownsville Native Wins Prestigious Research Fellowship

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Matthew Nicola Rispoli

DALLAS, TX (06/07/2013)(readMedia)-- DALLAS (SMU) -- SMU graduate student Matthew Nicola Rispoli, a native of Brownsville, Texas, has received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Rispoli will earn his M.S. in electrical engineering from SMU's Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering in August. He is a 2012 graduate of SMU with degrees in physics, electrical engineering and math.

Rispoli is being recognized for his physics research on ATLAS data derived from the search for supersymetric Higgs bosons at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, as well as for his electrical engineering research with antenna simulations for radio telescopes. He credits support from his SMU mentors, professors Stephen Sekula, Nathan Huntoon and Jodi Cooley.

"Matthew is creative and thoughtful, constructive and critical, never shies from a challenge, and is always engaged," Sekula said. "In my time working with him, he was constantly mistaken for being a Ph.D. physics graduate student because of his level of commitment to learning and helping to generate new knowledge. I am very proud that he has been honored for his potential in physics, and I look forward to the day when he is a leader in our field."

The NSF fellowship provides a three-year stipend, tuition assistance and travel money for collaboration and visiting research assistantships for students working toward research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Rispoli will apply award funding to his pursuit of a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics at Harvard University this fall.

"While my academic and professional pursuits are very technical, I believe that they entail some of the keys to the world's future material success," Rispoli said. "Nonetheless, technical and intellectual accomplishments are useless if they remain cloistered as esoteric facts for a specialized few. Without the appreciation of scientific endeavors and promotion of scientific literacy to the broader population, there is no real hope for true success."