Kimberly Cushman
  • Physics
  • Class of 2017
  • Baldwinsville, NY

Kimberly Cushman Receives Academic Achievement Award

2016 May 31

Kimberly Cushman of Baldwinsville, NY, was one of 54 outstanding SUNY Oneonta students selected to receive a 2016 Academic Achievement Award this spring. Each academic department or program selected one to three outstanding seniors to receive the award.

Cushman received the Physics & Astronomy Department award.

To be considered for the award, a student must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.5 in his or her major and must demonstrate exceptional academic improvement over four semesters, as well as excellence in research; leadership and involvement in department, campus and community activities; and/or participation in academic and/or professional situation outside the college.

In 2015, Cushman was accepted to a prestigious summer research program at the University of Notre Dame, where her work on nuclear processes relevant to stars led to a presentation in Sicily, Italy. This year, she was accepted to another prestigious summer program in Mainz, Germany, where she will work this summer on designing experimental apparatus for detecting axion particles, with an attempt to resolve mysteries of dark matter. In addition to her undergraduate studies, Cushman is independently studying graduate-level material in quantum field theory, supersymmetry and general relativity. She has attended several international conferences, and she had an essay published in the SPS Observer, a magazine for physics students.