Dorothea Altorfer, wife of one of our faculty members, created an event at the Fete de la Nature in Arnaudville, LA
Physics Celebrates 2020 Graduates: Nicholas Henderson and Conner Lemaire
Wed, 12/09/2020 - 4:12pm
Amidst economic uncertainty and steeply rising COVID-19 cases, Physics takes a well-deserved opportunity to celebrate our 2020 graduates: Nicholas Henderson and Conner Lemaire in the UL Lafayette face-to-face commencement ceremony on December 8, 2020.
Both graduates collected a winning number of Bachelor’s of Science Degrees: Nicholas in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics in 3.5 years and Conner in Physics and Mathematics. Nicholas will be joining LSU Medical School in Shreveport in September 2021 and Conner (whose official graduation date was Spring 2020) has joined the Physics doctoral program at LSU. Nicholas and Conner decided to stay in Louisiana to make a difference in their own State.
Both received extensive experience in research that will benefit their future careers. Nicholas worked with Dr. Harry Whitlow at the Louisiana Accelerator Center on projects ranging from imaging elemental distributions in biological cells to certifying the authenticity of artwork. Conner explored acoustics from underwater to solid-state working with Drs. Gabriela Petculescu and Natalia Sidorovskaia.
Nicholas won the Fall 2020 Outstanding Graduate of the College of Sciences award. The award was presented to him by Dr. James Henderson, his proud father and University of Louisiana System President. Dr. Henderson also delivered an inspirational commencement speech to the graduating class of the College of Sciences. Nicholas’ passion for physics has been clearly contagious in the family and became a part of Dr. Henderson’s speech silver lining when he called on the graduates to embrace the reality, no matter how hard it is, and how different it is from our own experiences and desires; in the same way how physicists had to come out of the world of classical physics and embrace the new quantum theory to arrive at a better understanding of the Universe and to assure technological and societal progress.
At the end of his engaging address Dr. Henderson called for continued inner strength and perseverance and offered advice to the 2020 graduates, who are facing one of the most challenging times of the last 100 years, by encouraging them to build their lives based on science, art, and the highest moral principles and quoting last lines from the William Ernest Henley “Invictus” poem “I am the master of my fate”.
Photo: Dr. James Henderson and Nicholas Henderson / Conner Lemaire