The SAO awards the Graduate Student Leader of the Year to the member of a student group who best demonstrates the qualities of outstanding leadership and membership, such as dependability, dedication, trustworthiness, loyalty, and helpfulness.
Interim Physics Department Chair Gang Xiao feels strongly that Daniel embodies all of these qualities saying “Daniel was an exceptional leader and organizer of the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) at Brown under the most exceptionally difficult circumstances. He became the chief organizer of this large-scale, three-day event after the conference’s faculty leader, Physics Department Chair Meenakshi Narain, passed away three weeks before the conference. Pushing through the emotional strain of losing the faculty advisor with whom he worked closely for four and a half years, Daniel’s true leadership shone through the adversity and emotional toll that losing Meenakshi exacted on us all.”
CUWiP, a three-day national conference at which Brown hosted groups from 30 national universities, was held January 20 – 22, 2023. Among the attendees were 120 undergraduates, 40 invited speakers, panelists and workshop facilitators, 40 volunteers, and 40 career fair representatives.
After the passing of the conference’s organizer and champion, Daniel moved forward with the myriad aspects of organizing a large-scale event. Professor Xiao and others on the faculty gave Daniel their full support, telling him that given his deep involvement with the project and how closely he worked with Professor Narain, the department trusted his judgment to make decisions that she would have been responsible for. On Daniel’s organization of the conference, Professor Xiao adds that Daniel proceeded with confidence and took complete charge of all aspects of the event, showing exemplary leadership.
After processing the repercussions of Professor Narain's passing, Daniel relates that he recognized how important the conference was to her vision for physics and he used that conviction to ensure the conference was carried out to the standard she would have expected from him were she still there to oversee him. Knowing that this conference was near to Professor Narain’s heart and how she threw all her energy into ensuring that the conference would be held at Brown in her final days, Daniel had an enormous responsibility, the weight of which would have broken a lesser person.
Daniel recollects that Professor Narain told him early on that to make the conference succeed he needed to learn to delegate tasks wisely and help others feel ownership over those tasks. He feels that she wanted this to be an opportunity for him to develop as a leader outside of research; she knew of Daniel’s tendency to do things independently but wanted him to learn to trust others in a team environment. Through flawless execution, it is clear that Daniel learned Professor Narain’s final lessons.