Daryoosh Vashaee of the University of California at Santa Cruz beat out an exceptionally strong field of eight candidates to win the 2004 Goldsmid Award for Excellence in Research in Thermoelectrics by a Graduate Student. The Goldsmid Award, presented at the ICT2004 banquet to Vashaee's advisor Dr. Ali Shakouri due to visa issues, seeks to identify an exceptional Ph.D. candidate graduate student who has made unusually notable contributions to thermoelectrics. The 2004 award was sponsored by Marlow Industries, Inc. and carries a cash award of US$1000 as well as an additional US$1000 to be used for travel and fees related to attending the ICT.

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This years candidates consisted of eight exceptional graduate students nominated from around the world, each of whom are worthy of recognition for their work. The other candidates were:

Andriy Horyn, Lviv National University, Ukraine
Matthieu Puyet, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Nancy, France
Christian Stiewe, German Aerospace Center, Germany
Anders Bentien, Max Planck Institute, Germany
Luciana W. da Silva, University of Michigan, USA
Tammy Humphrey, University of South Wales, Australia

In spite of the strength of the field of candidates, Mr. Vashaee (who may have been awarded his Ph.D. by now) was unanimously recommended by the Award Committee as the most deserving. Mr. Vashaee's record of publications and breadth of both theoretical and experimental would be a credit to many tenured professors. It is hoped that this Award will encourage him, and each of the candidates who were nominated for the Award, to continue continue their contributions to thermoelectrics.