Lucas Smith won this year’s Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award for his support of PTYS/ASTR 206: Exploring Our Solar System, with instructor Dr. Steve Kortenkamp, during the Fall 2025 semester.

Lucas connected undergraduate learning with authentic experiences outside of the classroom. While helping at the required telescope observing evenings, Lucas worked closely with many students. He spent time talking to them at the telescopes to discuss his research and the realities of scientific careers.

During his office hours, Lucas would occasionally invite students to visit the lab where he is working on his dissertation research. This was not part of any assigned class responsibility. The visits generated so much enthusiasm that Lucas then proposed and organized a larger optional OSIRIS-REx lab tour for the class.

The GTA Excellence award provides $1,000 in support of conference and research travel.

The Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award is an LPL initiative which is intended to promote, recognize, and reward exemplary performance among graduate teaching assistants assigned to PTYS undergraduate courses. The award consists of funding intended to be used toward travel and expenses to professional meeting chosen by the recipient. All graduate teaching assistants assigned to PTYS courses are eligible, whether or not their home department is PTYS.