Tracy Esman is the recipient of the PTYS Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Award for Spring 2018. Tracy was a GTA for PTYS/ASTR 170B2, with Dr. Steve Kortenkamp as instructor. Tracy carried a significant workload after a change of instructors early in the semester, helping to transition students to new assignments and assisting the instructor in bridging expectations. One of the student nominators wrote that, during the transition, "...things were crazy for a while! But Tracy was like a rock!" Tracy also prepared and presented a course lecture on the topic of the Moon, and was solely responsible for the term paper assignment, in addition to grading and review session responsibilities.

Recipients of the Outstanding GTA Award receive funds of up to $1,000 to support travel to a professional meeting of their choice.