David Cowperthwaite was a member of the Colorado College class of 1960 and his wife, Karen, was enrolled as a member of the class of 1962 when they were killed by lightning during a mountain expedition in 1960. The David and Karen Smith Cowperthwaite Award for Excellence in Physics was instituted by their parents in their memory in 1962, the year Karen would have graduated.

Award Winners

• 2024  Liam Keeley and Wanyan Yuan
• 2023  Annika Zettl
• 2022  Cole Thumann
• 2021  Marta Nowotka
• 2020  Kate Herman and James Zeng
• 2019  Zoe Krauss, Jackson Schrott, and Sohair Abdullah
• 2018  Maddy Lucy 

This award was established in memory of Professor Wilbur Wright, a student at Colorado College in 1938 and a member of the faculty from 1956 to 1984, for his contributions to the Physics Department, his many Colorado College students, and the college community. This award is for a graduating physics major or majors who exemplify Wright's standards and interests in physics and in academic work outside the department. That is, the award winner or winners should show enthusiasm for the study of physics through hard work and achievement, though they need not have the highest GPA. Similar efforts in a discipline outside physics should show an understanding of the importance of the liberal arts for a science student.