Florida Tech Student Earns Excellence in Physics Award

– Bryan DeBono has earned the Florida Tech James G. Potter Award for Excellence in Physics. He competed against six other students, all of whom earned
straight “A’s” in their introductory physics lecture and laboratory courses. At the competition, which took place earlier this spring, students answered
questions after observing several physics demonstrations.

“Bryan’s answer to a particularly difficult question regarding a rocket problem, distinguished his performance from his peers,” said Jim Gering, instructor
and director of laboratories, Dept. of Physics and Space Sciences.
DeBono, a sophomore and physics major, was a 2001 graduate of Dunedin High School in Dunedin, Fla. He maintains a 3.93 grade point average and is a member
of the freshman honors society, Phi Eta Sigma.

Potter, the award namesake, retired as head of the physics department at Texas A&M University and became head of the physics department at Florida Tech
in 1968. In the 1980s, he retired as department head, but continued operating the physics laboratories and training graduate student assistants as
instructors. The Potter Award has been given in his memory since his death in 1992.

Florida Tech offers a bachelor’s degree in astronomy/astrophysics and bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in space sciences.