Arts and Sciences Student a Finalist for National Physics Award

Xingting Gong, a 2015 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, was a finalist for this year’s LeRoy Apker Award, given by the American Physical Society to recognize outstanding achievements in physics by undergraduate students, and thereby provide encouragement to young physicists who have demonstrated great potential for future scientific accomplishment.

Gong, a double major in mathematics and physics, was a scholar in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in the Molecular Life Sciences and a recipient of a Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Challenge Award. As a member of Vicki and William Abrams Professor in the Natural Sciences Randall Kamien’s theoretical condensed matter physics research group, she participated in theoretical and experimental investigations into the topological defects in graphene and graphene-like materials. Their work using the principles of kirigami, a type of origami where cutting is allowed, was described in Wired in January of 2015.

Gong also studied stacking textures and singularities in bilayer graphene under the supervision of Professor Eugene Mele. She has already coauthored original research papers published in journals including Physical Review and Physical Review Letters. She is now a graduate student in applied physics at Stanford University.

As a finalist, Gong received an honorarium of $2,000. A certificate and award of $1,000 to support undergraduate research was also presented to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Penn Arts and Sciences.