Physics Alum Supports Graduate Students
From the fall 2007 issue of UConn Momentum
Memories of the aid received as a graduate researcher at UConn have prompted a major planned gift to support graduate students in the physics department.
Nagavarapu S. Mohan, Ph.D. ’75, with encouragement from his late wife, Kamala, and his son, Sri, established the Nagavarapu Graduate Award in Physics in 2001 when Kamala was valiantly fighting a battle with cancer. Mohan, with strong encouragement from his second wife, Roopa, has now made the physics department the beneficiary of their estate.
“I have fond memories of UConn, despite the pressures we all go through being a graduate student. I feel especially fortunate having had advisors who were helpful and cooperative in pushing me,” he says. “I originally came from India and it wouldn’t have been possible to succeed without the help of the department. When I needed a boost, they gave it to me.”
Mohan, who now works as a software engineer at a large aerospace company in California, says that he wanted to support the next generation of graduate researchers and knows firsthand how much private support can help.
“Graduate students do the grunt work of research, and top graduate students go where they can get the most support from the institution. Many are married and have families. If I can relieve the financial stress and pressure they feel, they can better focus on their work. That’s my motivation for making this gift,” he says.
Mohan has kept in close contact with UConn’s physics faculty over the years. He cites his major advisor, the late Professor Dwight Damon, Ph.D., as well as emeritus professors Paul Klemens and Quentin Kessel, as role models.
“I’ll always be grateful to Dr. Klemens for giving me an opportunity when I desperately needed one,” he adds.
William Stwalley, Ph.D., physics department head, says, “We are particularly delighted to receive generous support from our former students such as Mohan. Not only does such support get used effectively, but also it acknowledges the positive atmosphere these individuals experienced when they were students.”
Kessel says that private support like Mohan’s plays a key role in recruiting and retaining quality graduate students to the department.
“Private support makes a real difference to the quality of the experience we can provide for both our undergraduate and graduate students,” he says. “We’re acutely aware of the increasingly restricted public support for higher education and research, so it’s wonderful to have alumni like Mohan. He’s just a remarkably generous guy.”
Mohan says that he sought to make a gift with a minimum amount of limitations placed on it.
“Unlike some other public or private sources of support, I have no agenda about what kind of research my gift should help. I just want them to do what they can to assist physics graduate students; it’s been an honor for me to be able to contribute.”
To support the physics department, please contact Frank Gifford at 860.486.6798. For information about planned giving, please contact Hal Reed at 860.486.6135.
