Three St. Olaf students selected as Rossing Physics Scholars
Three St. Olaf College students have been named Rossing Physics Scholars for 2025–26, an honor that recognizes exemplary students in physics at colleges and universities in the U.S. affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Anastasia Ajkoviq ’27 and Natalie Gonzalez ’26 have each received $5,000 from the Thomas D. Rossing Fund for Physics Education. Satoshi Simental Murakami ’26 has received $10,000 from the same fund.
The awards are given annually to outstanding physics students selected from across the nation.
All three St. Olaf recipients are majoring in physics. Ajkoviq and Murakami are also majoring in mathematics and computer science respectively, and Gonzalez has an engineering concentration.
Anastasia Ajkoviq ’27
Anastasia Ajkoviq ’27 is a physics and math major focusing on mathematical and theoretical physics. Their interest in theoretical physics was established very early on, and they were able to explore that interest through their Collaborative Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (CURI) experience with Associate Professor of Physics Prabal Adhikari. Throughout that work, they learned quantum computing and how to identify spatial symmetries in systems, working to find an algorithm to estimate the ground state energy of the 1 Dimensional Ising Model. Using this algorithm in a well-known system helped Ajkoviq to see the value of exploring symmetries to understand how a system behaves through high precision measurements.
Ajkoviq hopes to continue expanding on their experience across other parts of this field. They are still continuing their contribution to research in tribology with Professor of Physics and Director of Engineering Studies Brian Borovsky ’94. This experimental field explores friction between surfaces, and Ajkoviq is currently studying nearly frictionless movement between a quartz crystal coated with a diamond-like carbon layer and a stainless steel ball.
Outside the classroom, Ajkoviq is involved with the STEMQuest outreach program, which shares science knowledge through practical experiments and demonstrations with people of all ages in various communities. They elaborated on the value of accessible science for kids:
“With STEMQuest, kids can actually see experiments come to life, and they can truly understand the joy of science,” Ajkoviq says. “It is very beautiful, because I think that sometimes educational systems don’t truly show the joy of sciences, which turns a lot of people away from them.”
STEMQuest also showcases its experiments at the yearly winter walk in downtown Northfield to share the value of science with all ages, and provide greater understanding about scientific processes. Ajkoviq is also a representative for the Physics Department on the Natural Science and Mathematics Action Team, a student-led group that works to create diverse spaces and facilitate communication between students and faculty.
After graduation, Ajkoviq plans to attend a physics graduate program to keep exploring theory. Their larger goal is to earn a Ph.D. and become a professor, as they are already eager to use their strengths to help fellow scholars.
“Right now I’m still trying to get those professing skills into me by trying to explain [topics] to my classmates, and hopefully expanding all of the ways that I could phrase things to make them more understandable,” Ajkoviq says.
They also want to further their efforts in facilitating a welcoming environment in the science community, to help create paths for new discoveries.
Satoshi Simental Murakami ‘26
Satoshi Simental Murakami ’26 is currently working on a CURI project with Borovsky, creating a prototype for an electronic starting gun for sports events.
“It’s a very exciting time, being able to do my own research about the alternative components that I need to use, and being able to bring everything together,” Simental Murakami says. “If I have an issue or a problem, and I realize that there’s no actual or correct answer, I’ve just got to figure out what works best for me.”
Simental Murakami also put his physics and computer science major to use during his summer 2025 internship with the CoraVie Medical startup, where he helped to create simulations for developing blood pressure devices, and during his Directed Undergraduate Research (DUR) with Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Suneth Jayawardana, developing AI frameworks to predict asteroid paths. Simental Murakami has also developed an interest in creative engineering, which provides a valuable intersection between his majors and allows him to experience a more tangible side of physics.
“I’ve found in my experience here at St. Olaf that engineering is one of the fields that precisely concentrates both of these worlds,” he says.
Simental Murakami has applied his engineering interest to woodworking, which he began practicing after taking Physics Stockroom Technician Kurtis Johnson’s January Term course on the fundamentals of building through the Ole Career Launcher. He has continued his interest after the course as a lab technician in the woodshop, and appreciates the tools that his majors have given him for creative problem solving and approaching his projects from different perspectives.
“One of the things you realize as a physics and computer science major is that you’re mostly trained to be able to move around numbers and formulas, but [these majors are] also giving you the framework to be a problem-solver,” he says.
Simental Murakami plans to continue this type of hands-on work after graduation with a career in prototyping and fabrication, and is excited to find more opportunities to combine his interests.
“The curse and the blessing of being at a liberal arts college is that you get so many opportunities, which really broadens your perspective, but it’s also very hard to choose afterwards, because you have this very wide span of interests,” he says.
Natalie Gonzalez ’26
Natalie Gonzalez ’26 spent the past summer participating in medical physics research with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) machines at the University of Pennsylvania, which are used in cancer treatment and diagnosis. She says that experience affirmed her career direction.
“I really enjoyed that time, because I got to see into the daily life of a medical physicist and do research in the field that I’m interested in,” Gonzalez explains. “There’s not a lot of medical physics opportunities for the summer, but I was able to participate in a program that fuels my passion, which I am really grateful for.”
Gonzalez’s other research experiences include independent on-campus work with Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Physics Anne Gothmann, imaging new growth on coral skeletons to answer questions about climate change. She also participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Cornell University during the summer of 2024, where she worked on synthesizing and characterizing photocathodes (generates electron emission under light irradiation) using a molecular-beam epitaxy system (a type of thin film growth technique). A paper including some of her research was later reviewed in the Journal of Applied Physics, which was a particularly rewarding moment for Gonzalez.
“I feel like I face a lot of imposter syndrome, and that was the first time I genuinely felt proud of myself,” she says.
Gonzalez also spoke about how the welcoming atmosphere of the Physics Department has contributed to her favorite experiences with her major.
“I’ve just loved getting to know the Physics Department,” Gonzalez shares. “The community in this department is so close, and so fun, that it makes the hard classes seem easier. We all know each other because the department is small, and we have fun events that each physics group gets to do.”
In addition to her research experiences, Gonzalez is the president of the Society of Women in Physics and Engineering (SWiPE); a member of the TRIO McNair Scholars program, which helps prepare first-generation and low-income students pursue graduate school; and is a teaching assistant for introductory physics courses and labs. Gonzalez is majoring in physics with a concentration in engineering, and hopes to pursue a master’s program in medical physics after graduation. She also plans to complete a residency to become a clinical medical physicist, focusing on radiation therapy.
About the Rossing Scholarship
Gifts from Thomas Rossing established the Rossing Fund for Physics Education Endowment through the Foundation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2005. The goals of the scholarship program are to encourage top students to attend one of the 27 ELCA colleges and universities in the country, and to consider pursuing physics once they are there. Rossing taught at St. Olaf for 14 years.