Wright Lab graduate student Matthew King has been named a Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Prize Teaching Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, along with 10 other GSAS graduate students. The prize has been given annually by GSAS since 2000 to recognize outstanding performance and promise as a teacher. Recipients are nominated by their undergraduate students and the faculty members they assist while serving as teaching fellows.
“The goal of doctoral education is often seen as that of transforming fact seekers into generators of knowledge,” said Lynn Cooley, Dean of the Graduate School. “However, it goes beyond the creation of new knowledge: a Ph.D. should also give you the skills to disseminate that knowledge out in the world where it will have the greatest impact.” In reading the nominations, Dean Cooley remarked, “it was abundantly clear that how these teaching fellows have inspired their students.”
King is a first-year PhD student in the physics department studying experimental neutrino physics, who has been with Wright Lab’s research community since he was an undergraduate at Yale. He is interested in using liquid argon detectors to probe the elusive particles for the answers they can provide to our greatest fundamental questions about the structure of the universe. King is deeply grateful to his students for nominating him for this award, and he hopes that they will inspire future generations of students.
From the nominations: “Matt King has been one of the best TFs I have ever had. He TFed my PHYS 410 class last semester and is currently a TF for my PHYS 430 class. Matt always goes out of his way to ensure everyone feels like they belong in the class, even when sometimes it is hard to feel that way … Matt does his best to understand how students are feeling in the class and then relays this information to the instructor of the course, which is incredibly helpful as students don’t always feel comfortable voicing concerns directly to the instructor. Overall, Matt is an excellent instructor, he goes beyond the role of a TF, and I am so glad to have his encouragement and support.”
See below for the full story from the Dean’s Office on May 8, 2023, further information about the Prize Teaching Fellowship, and for a list of past winners.