Union College physics student awarded top scholarship

2014 Jun 20

Stephen DiIorio, a junior physics and computer science major from Rotterdam, N.Y., recently was honored with a Goldwater Scholarship, the premiere undergraduate award for students pursuing careers in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.

Created in 1989, the scholarship honors the memory of U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater. DiIorio is one of 283 sophomores and juniors selected from among 1,166 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. He will receive $7,500 to cover tuition, fees, books, and room and board next year.

Working with Chad Orzel, associate professor and chair of the Physics Department, DiIorio spent his previous summer in a lab creating neat things like laser tweezers. "I enjoyed coming in every day and solving a problem," said DiIorio. "I knew then that I wanted to be an experimental physicist."

DiIorio will spend this summer doing research at the University of Washington. After Union, he plans to attend graduate school to study atomic, molecular and optical physics. As an experimental physicist, he hopes to conduct quantum information research at a university or an industrial or government laboratory.

DiIorio credits his experiences at Union with helping shape his interest in physics.

"Union is a great place that has given me many opportunities to excel and, because of its size, allowed me to get to know my professors on a personal level," he said. "I can't thank the physics and computer science professors enough for their camaraderie and support."