The Dr. Pliny A. and Margaret H. Price Prize of the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics (CCAPP) is supported by generous gifts from Steve Price and Jill Levy, and is named after Steve's parents. Steve and Jill reside in Westerville and are admirers of the study of this science.

The Price Prize recognizes graduate students who have shown exceptional accomplishments and promise in areas of research closely connected to those of CCAPP. The selection, which is extremely competitive, is made by the CCAPP Science Board from nominations from around the world.

The 2011 awardees are Sayan Chakraborti of the Tata Institute and Michele Fumagalli of Santa Cruz. Each will visit CCAPP in 2012 for about a week and will give a special seminar. The prize covers their expenses and provides an honorarium of $1500. The continued generosity of the donors made it possible to offer two prizes this year.

Chakraborti works on the mechanisms and consequences of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. Fumagalli works on how galaxies and their stars form across cosmic time. An unusual aspect of their work is that each has worked on both theory and observation.