An interest in the way the world works gave Physics students Collin Tower and Kraig Helmeczi the inspiration that led to them earning prestigious Governor General Silver Medals at Brock University\u2019s Fall Convocation Friday, Oct. 16.<\/p>\n
The Silver Medals are awarded for achieving the highest academic standing at the undergraduate level. Both students completed their Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Physics with an overall average of 95 per cent and a major average of 96 per cent.<\/p>\n
Growing up, Tower was always curious about the world around him, asking his parents questions about how batteries function or how birds fly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been drawn to physics to learn these answers for as long as I can remember,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With his undergraduate degree now complete, Tower is now taking a Master\u2019s of Science – Physics (Condensed Matter and Material Science).<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring my time at Brock I got the opportunity to work a summer position studying condensed matter research with Professor (Maureen) Reedyk and it was fascinating to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI began studying crystals and my thesis, Synthesis and Optical Properties of Cs2AgBiBr6,<\/em> evolved from that interest. At first it was challenging to grow even a single crystal, yet my professors and peers are always there to help push through any road blocks we encountered.\u201d<\/p>\n Tower approaches his studies carefully and thoroughly to ensure he fully understands the material.<\/p>\n \u201cI consider myself a forgetful person, so I ask a lot of questions,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce I can look at a problem and be fairly sure I can answer it, I can move on. Each set of problems gives me a new tool to use to solve the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n Tower\u2019s dedication to putting in long hours to master the material is shared by Helmeczi.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were times in my studies that I didn\u2019t think I could succeed,\u201d said Helmeczi. \u201cI would often spend 10 or 20 hours working on a lab report or assignment that my peers seemed to complete effortlessly in much less time. I kept at it because I always wanted to do the best I could.\u201d<\/p>\n Helmeczi enjoys quantum mechanics and theoretical physics and was especially enthusiastic about his electromagnetism courses. His thesis, \u201cComplete Colouring and Enhanced Identification of Knots\u201d\u00a0<\/em>explores knot theory and its physical applications.<\/p>\n In addition to the Governor General Silver Medal, Helmeczi was also awarded the Dean\u2019s Medal for Mathematics and Science (Honours), awarded to the graduating student with the highest cumulative overall average in their Faculty and the Distinguished Graduating Student Award (Physics), presented to the graduating student with the highest major average in their department.<\/p>\n \u201cI love going to classes where the concepts build upon each other, each one a stepping stone to solve the next,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I took a General Relativity course because it was Einstein’s great concept. You have to throw out your intuition about how the world works and relearn your preconceptions because everything is very different than we imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Helmeczi and Tower credit the Physics department for creating a supportive learning environment. They say their professors are always willing to help and their peers motivate them to work hard.<\/p>\n \u201cI would get a text from a friend saying they\u2019ve already done their assignment and it would encourage me to sit down and complete mine,\u201d Tower said. \u201cI always knew there would be someone working along beside me to ask for help or offer help to.\u201d<\/p>\n When Helmeczi asked if he knew which friend Tower was talking about, he replied \u201cwell of course I know him. It\u2019s me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Helmeczi said no matter how hard things got, he knew he could always ask for help from his professors and others.<\/p>\n \u201cI communicated a lot with my classmates, I asked for help and helped others,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s not just you having a hard time. We are blessed in Physics with weekly assignments. It can be difficult and time consuming, but it forces you to stay on top of the work. The Physics process makes you learn if you stick with it week to week.\u201d<\/p>\n Mathematics and Science Dean Ejaz Ahmed congratulated Tower and Helmeczi on their hard work and the Governor General awards.<\/p>\n \u201cThese students exemplify that hard work and determination can produce outstanding results,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are proud to call Collin and Kraig Brock graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An interest in the way the world works gave Physics students Collin Tower and Kraig Helmeczi the inspiration that led to them earning prestigious Governor General Silver Medals at Brock University\u2019s Fall Convocation Friday, Oct. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":68652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,41,1],"tags":[9583,156,348,8346,9584,91,81],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68650,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68649\/revisions\/68650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}