Mathematics PhD wins Rath Award at Fall 2024 Graduate Commencement
Mines awarded a total of 75 doctorates and 265 master’s degrees at Dec. 13 ceremony
Will Daniels, PhD in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, is the winner of the Fall 2024 Dr. Bhakta Rath and Sushama Rath Research Award.
The honor, which recognizes the Colorado School of Mines doctoral graduate whose thesis demonstrates the greatest potential for societal impact, was presented during Fall 2024 Graduate Commencement on Dec. 13. At the ceremony, Mines awarded 75 doctorates and 265 master’s degrees to December graduates.
Daniels’s dissertation, “Characterizing Methane Emissions on Oil and Gas Sites,” focuses on the development of methods and algorithms to provide methane concentration measurements, which could be used to identify the locations and rates of emission leaks.
Daniels’ research has resulted in four published first-author papers and two more first-author papers in preparation, as well as three more published or submitted papers as a co-author. His algorithms are already being widely adopted among sensor-technology providers and should serve as a leading benchmark for further development in detecting methane emission leaks.
Daniels will go on to a postdoctoral position at Johns Hopkins University, where he will continue to work on methane emission monitoring and mitigation based on satellite data.
Finalists for the Rath Award were:
- John Ayaburi, Operations Research with Engineering, “Optimizing Ventilation in Medium- and Short-Term Mine Planning”
- Jillian Collins, Chemical and Biological Engineering, “Engineered Nanocapsule Drug Delivery Vehicle to Selectively Target and Protect Islet Beta Cells in Type 1 Diabetes”
- Emily Pittman, Mechanical Engineering, “Rate Effects on the Thermo-Mechanical Compressive Response of Conventional and Metastable β-Ti Alloys”
- Daniel Rathmaier, Petroleum Engineering, “Methane Gas Hydrate Precipitation Modeling in Porous Media Using Numerical Simulation and Digital Rock Physics”
- Elena Savidge, Geophysics, “Investigating Antarctic Ice-Ocean Processes Using Satellite and In Situ Observations”
- Bahareh Tajdini, Civil and Environmental Engineering, “Development and Application of Strategies to Improve Adsorptive Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Treatment: Mitigation of Organic Matter Impacts and Development of High-Performance Media”
Other Graduate Student Awards
Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Outstanding Thesis Award: Jillian Collins
Computer Science
- Outstanding Master’s Student Award: Dorian Cauwe
Economics and Business
- Broussard Award in Engineering and Technology Management: Michael Haas
Humanitarian Engineering and Science
- Outstanding Graduate Student Award: Jennifer Bacon and Alex Brunson
Mechanical Engineering
- Emeritus Faculty Exemplary Graduate Student Award: Sydney Bell
- Outstanding Dissertation Award: Emily Pittman
