Laura Marcucci of Newport News, a doctoral student in physics, has received the Luise Meyer-Schutzmeister Award from the Association for Women in Science Educational Foundation, marking the second straight year the honor has gone to an Old Dominion student.

The Meyer-Schutzmeister Award, a prestigious national honor given to an outstanding female student pursuing a doctorate in physics, is named for a former physicist at Argonne National Laboratory who helped perform measurements of gamma rays produced in nuclear reactions and did studies of the behavior of nuclei.

By summer’s end, Marcucci, a native of Italy, will receive her doctorate in physics based on her work in theoretical nuclear physics at the Jefferson Lab. Also an accomplished pianist, she has decided to pursue a career in physics.

Marcucci earned her bachelor’s degree the University of Degli Studi in Pisa. After graduation, she will return to Pisa, but said she hopes to collaborate in the future with her colleagues at the Jefferson Lab.

Last year, the Meyer-Schutzmeister Award, which includes a $500 prize, was presented to Luminita Todor, another Old Dominion graduate student, for her work in experimental nuclear physics. This is the first time in the history of the award that winners in two successive years have come from the same university. Gail Dodge, an assistant professor of physics, also won the award as a graduate student at Stanford.

Marcucci’s award “is an excellent quality-indicator of the kind of student we have attracted to our graduate program in physics and of the success we have had in making our department a hospitable place for women as well as for men,” said James Cox, chair of the physics department. “Working at Old Dominion was a very good experience,” Marcucci said, adding, “I enjoyed very much the opportunity of going to colloquia and seminars organized by the department to get to know some physics outside my specific research area.”