Junior Gabe Holum was named a 2021-22 Thomas D. Rossing Scholar receiving a $5,000 scholarship from the Thomas D. Rossing Fund for Physics Education.
“It is wonderful that Concordia has another Rossing scholar this year, after having two last year,” said Dr. Luiz Manzoni, chair/professor of physics.
The scholarship program was created in 2005 by Rossing, a former professor at St. Olaf College, through the ELCA Foundation. It’s designed to be used for students’ tuition to help ease the burden of pursuing a degree and encourages students to study physics at ELCA schools.
“Gabe is, of course, very smart,” Manzoni added. “He has an incredible work ethic and he has been consistently involved in the department by helping with the stockroom and being a tutor/grader for several courses.”
“Gabe took several courses and did research on Machine Learning with me, and in all our interactions he demonstrated enormous enthusiasm and drive to learn, and he always has excellent ideas on how to improve things – he does all of this while always sporting a contagious smile,” Manzoni said. “I cannot think of anyone more deserving of the honor of being a Rossing Scholar than Gabe.”
Holum applied for the scholarship after being nominated for it by the physics department. He believes his research with Manzoni in the summer of 2020, and his participation in the 2019-20 MN Space Grant Consortium Intercollegiate Quadcopter Challenge, may have helped him get attention for the scholarship. He says he’s ecstatic about the scholarship.
“I was notified via email,” Holum said. “It certainly was a surprise, as it had been quite some time since the deadline. I had actually thought to myself that if I wasn’t notified by the end of the week then I surely didn’t get it, but I got the email that Friday afternoon.”
Holum plans on pursuing a doctorate in graduate school for either astrophysics or aerospace engineering, beginning in the fall of 2022.
In high school, Holum had no idea what he wanted to do academically. He had encountered pop culture physics and enjoyed it a lot but never thought about pursuing physics.
“I had mainly wanted to play hockey,” he said. “I had talked with multiple Division I coaches and they made it very clear that in order to play at that level I would have needed to put college on hold for at least a couple of years and play junior hockey instead. After a lot of thought, I made the toughest decision of my life and turned down a Division I offer to play hockey because I wanted to continue my academics.”
Holum was grateful Coach Chris Howe (Concordia’s head coach of men’s hockey) had told him that he could play at Concordia without playing junior hockey, so he decided to continue his academics and hockey career at Concordia.
“When I got here, I discovered that the physics department offered a major in astrophysics,” Holum said. “I finally realized that I could center my life around the thing I had enjoyed learning about in my free time. Now, despite my hockey career ending due to injury, I couldn’t be happier to be at Concordia.”
“All of the physics and math professors are fantastic teachers and mentors,” he added. “They have given me many opportunities that have opened the door for me to go to graduate school and receive scholarships such as the Rossing Scholarship.”