Human awarded Leigh Page Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching

Wright Lab graduate student Theophilus Human has been awarded the Yale Physics Department’s 2025-26 Leigh Page Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching, along with fellow physics graduate student Allison Culbert. The award recognizes broad and impactful contributions to physics education at Yale, both within the department and the broader community. Human works in the Jack Harris Lab. 

Human’s citation reads, “For his strong track record as an diligent, approachable and dedicated TF [teaching fellow] in Yale Physics courses, who goes above and beyond in supporting the students in their learning and the supporting instructors in running of the courses. Also of note are his many leadership roles for community outreach events, including YPO [Yale Physics Olympics], the Yale Warrior Scholars Program, and Pathways [Yale Pathways to Science] summer programing.”

Human has been a leader in designing events for YPO for several years. He has brought high school students to campus for science demonstrations and laboratory tours, served as a project supervisor for the Warrior-Scholar Project, and worked with the Yale Physics instructional team Paul Noel and Caitlin Hansen on the Pathways summer workshop series.

Human said, “It’s an honor to receive the Leigh Page Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching. I have been very fortunate to learn from and work alongside so many outstanding faculty, staff, and students during my time at Yale. I am grateful to be part of a department that provides exceptional support for the learning process and places a strong emphasis on inviting the broader public into the world of physics.”

The Leigh Page Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching seeks to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in graduate student teaching, distinct among the already high standard of teaching that graduate students in the physics department consistently achieve. This award supports the Yale Physics graduate program learning goal that “Students will become educators and communicators with the ability to promote an understanding and appreciation of physics across the university and in society,” and help solidify in our community that effective and informed teaching is one of our core values.

This article has been adapted from a Yale Physics news article by Daphne Klemme from July 14, 2026, “Culbert and Human receive the 2025-2026 Leigh Page Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching”.