For Jorge Morales, a doctoral student studying neutron stars, the decision to nominate IU emeritus professor of physics, Charles Horowitz, for the American Physical Society’s Division of Nuclear Physics Mentoring Award, which Horowitz would win, was easy, because of his outstanding mentorship.
“I think it’s a prize that he well deserves,” Morales said. “I just felt happy, and I felt that it was a privilege to be his student.”
Morales, who met Horowitz in 2019 through American Physical Society’s Bridge program at IU, said his advisor knew he wanted to study particle physics and insisted he speak with Horowitz.
After speaking with Horowitz, Morales said he realized that Horowitz worked on topics he was interested in and, since their first meeting, noticed that he was a great advisor.
The bridge program works to increase the number of physics doctoral degrees awarded to underrepresented minority students, according to the American Physical Society’s website.
The program also pairs students with faculty mentors to build and strengthen their professional networks and explore new career paths, according to an IU news article. At IU, the program gives students an individualized course of study, allowing them to bridge the gap between undergraduate and graduate degrees, according to the IU bridge program’s website. Students in the program can earn a master’s degree while they prepare for their doctoral degree.
“It has been amazing,” Morales said about working and being mentored by Horowitz. “It has been a great learning experience, and yeah, very enriching, both in knowledge and the ability to solve problems. The ability to work as a professional within the physics community and outside the physics community.”
Morales said one thing he learned from Horowitz is that as a professional, professor and researcher, a person needs to explain complicated topics in simple ways without losing the rigor. As a mentor, Morales said, a person needs to let their students be independent but also put in the work in guiding them.
“I think, as a professional within physics and as a future mentor, that's one of the most valuable lessons that I have learned from him,” Morales said.
Because of his experience as Horowitz’s student, Morales has formally mentored an undergraduate student and has informally mentored other doctoral and postdoctoral students.
“I think I took very valuable lessons from Chuck's mentorship, and I am already starting to apply them,” Morales said. "If I become a professor in the future, that's something that I will look to apply.”
Horowitz, who is still mentoring Morales and a graduate student at IU, received the award last November at the annual meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics in Hawaii. The annual award recognizes members of the Division of Nuclear Physics who’ve had exceptional impact as mentors of nuclear scientists and students through teaching and research.
According to a News at IU article, Horowitz was honored for his selfless mentorship, supporting students and post doctorates for over four decades, and outstanding mentorship of early-career scientists from groups that have been historically underrepresented in physics.
Horowitz said he was delighted and a little surprised when he found out that he received the award.
“I was happy for all the excellent students I've interacted with over the years,” Horowitz said.
Since starting at IU in 1987, Horowitz said he’s sponsored several postdoctoral fellows and that 14 or so graduate students have received their doctoral degrees with him. Mentoring these promising students, he said, is why professors do what they do.
“They’re going to be the next generation,” Horowitz said, “And the science advances, with the people, with the students, and the exciting things to be discovered in the future are going to be from their work, but it’s really very worthwhile. It’s very enriching to interact with really good people.”
He said the mentors he had in the past, like his advisor for his doctoral thesis, were extraordinary teachers. Horowitz said he’s had the fortune of dealing with some remarkable people as mentors when he was younger.
“I'm just surprised to get considered in the same sentence,” Horowitz said.
Mark Messier, a distinguished professor and chairman of the physics department at IU, said he was thrilled when he found out that Horowitz received the award.
“Chuck has just been just a fantastic mentor in the department and somebody just doing great research working with a lot of great students,” Messier said. “And it's just fantastic when people like that are recognized on the national stage.”
