Maxwell Cole Awarded Charles M. Smith Superior Graduate Student Scholarship
LSU’s Medical Physics and Health Physics Program has announced Maxwell Cole as the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Charles M. Smith Superior Graduate Student Scholarship. Established from the estate of the late Dr. Charles M. Smith of Sulphur, Louisiana, the scholarship represents Dr. Smith’s commitment to significantly enhance medical physics education and research programs by supporting graduate students to ensure a continued pipeline of highly qualified medical physicists.
“On behalf of the LSU Mary Bird Perkins Medical & Health Physics, program I am pleased to announce that Max has been selected to receive the Charles M. Smith Superior Graduate Student Award. This award will provide critical support for Max as he completes his research-based PhD dissertation,” said Kip Matthews, Professor and Interim Program Director, Medical Physics & Health Physics at LSU.
Cole, a 2020 LSU BS in physics alumnus, describes the importance of this award as he advances his career.
“I am honored to be the recipient of the Charles M. Smith Superior Graduate Student Scholarship. I aspire to uphold Dr. Smith’s altruistic values and his devotion to humanitarianism. This award will assist in supporting me as I complete my dissertation and progress in my medical physics career,” said Cole.
Currently, Cole is in the LSU Medical Physics Program working on his doctoral dissertation project, supervised by Dr. Wayne Newhauser. His research focuses on the development of a cardiovascular digital twin. The project involves a first-principles approach to modeling the effects of radiation on the vascular system and blood flow in the entire human body. After completing his PhD, Cole plans to attend a therapeutic medical physics residency program.
In 2023, Cole received the Roussel Family Graduate Student award in Communication from LSU, which recognizes exemplary research coupled with the ability to succinctly present research findings. 1974 PhD alumnus, Keith Roussel and his family established an award for graduate students who excel in communicating their research. In 2022, Cole was awarded the LaSPACE Graduate Student Research Award and the Kenneth R. Hogstrom Superior Graduate Student Scholarship Award.
Additionally, in his senior year at LSU, Cole played an instrumental part during the pandemic, helping those in need using his skills and knowledge to create face masks, ventilators, and face shields for nurses and doctors working with COVID-19 patients. The volunteer operation yielded more than 3,400 items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which were successfully distributed to hospitals in the greater New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas in the first few weeks. For these efforts to help the community, Cole was given the 2020 LSU Ethics Institute Inspire Award for Exemplary Ethical Action, which recognizes students who help another individual or group, stand up for a cause or belief, or otherwise exhibit extraordinary ethical leadership.
A beloved family medicine practitioner who devoted his career to helping Louisiana families, Smith developed an appreciation for the critical role of physics and medicine while undergoing lifesaving cancer treatment. Motivated to ensure access to the same quality of care in his home state of Louisiana, Smith established the Dr. Charles M. Smith Chair in Medical Physics at LSU in 2006, shortly after LSU and Mary Bird Perkins announced his commitment to significantly enhancing the medical physics education and research programs.
Smith, a native of Bogalusa, Louisiana, was born on Aug. 24, 1930, and passed away Sept. 15, 2020. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from LSU in 1951 and his medical degree from LSU Medical School in New Orleans in 1955. He was a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force for two years, then opened his medical practice in Sulphur in 1957, practicing for 35 years and serving as coroner for Calcasieu Parish for more than 20 years. An active community volunteer, he was devoted to the arts and was a generous philanthropist who, in addition to his investments in LSU and the Cancer Center, supported local children and families and invested in educational access through local scholarships.
The LSU medical physics and health physics groups research the applications of radiation technology to the health-care, national defense, and nuclear energy industries. All graduate students in the Medical Physics and Health Physics Program are required to complete a research thesis (MS) or dissertation (PhD) in their field of study.
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Mimi LaValle
LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy
225-439-5633
mlavall@lsu.edu