UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kathryne Sparks Woodle, a candidate for a doctoral degree in physics in the Eberly College of Science, has been honored with the 2014 Graduate Student Service Award.
The award, established in 1991, recognizes a graduate student who has best combined high academic achievement with leadership in University or other public activities.
For the past three years, Woodle has played a leadership role in the Graduate Women in Science group, including serving as vice president, advertising chair and conference committee co-chair. She has spent three summers supporting research experiences for low-income and first-generation college students in the Upward Bound Math and Science Program. She has chaired the Physics and Astronomy for Women student organization as it increased its level of outreach, educational and professional development activities. She also served as local committee chair for the January 2014 American Physical Society Northeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Penn State, attended by more than 200 female undergraduate physics majors.
Woodle also served as lead teaching assistant for an experimental women-only cohort in an introductory physics class.
“Kathryne has demonstrated leadership in a large number of areas related to science outreach and educational initiatives within our department, the Eberly College of Science and more broadly outside of Penn State, now reaching onto the national stage,” one Physics Department nominator said.
Woodle earned her bachelor’s degree in physics from Grinnell College in Iowa.