This post is modified from one posted by the Graduate School
Thirty-two exceptional graduate students, including physics PhD student Lekshmi Thulasidharan, have been selected as recipients of the 2025-26 Campus-Wide Teaching Assistant Awards, recognizing their strengths and commitment surrounding the craft of teaching.
UW–Madison employs over 2,400 teaching assistants (TAs) across a wide range of disciplines. Their contributions to the classroom, lab, and field are essential to the university’s educational mission. To recognize the excellence of TAs across campus, the Graduate School, the College of Letters & Science, and the Morgridge Center sponsor these annual awards.
Volunteer judges selected awardees for four categories: early excellence, advanced achievement, capstone teaching, and community-based learning.
Thulasidharan earned both a Capstone Teaching Award and a Dorothy Powelson Award. The Capstone Teaching Award recognizes dissertators at the end of their graduate program with an outstanding teaching record over the course of their UW–Madison tenure. The Dorothy Powelson Awards recognize outstanding performance by TAs in the natural sciences.
Thulasidharan is a student in astronomy professor and physics affiliate professor Elena D’Onghia’s group. Her research focus is on galactic dynamics. She has taught quite a few courses during her years at UW–Madison, with her favorite being Modern Physics. She has also really enjoyed teaching the physics course about Mechanics.
As a teacher, her favorite thing is working closely with students as they learn to tackle difficult physics problems.
“Many students start out feeling intimidated by the material, but through discussions and guided problem-solving sessions they begin to see the logic behind it and grow more confident. Watching that growth over the semester is the most rewarding part of teaching,” she said. “Over the years, teaching has also helped me grow as a person. It has helped me develop confidence and strengthened my communication and mentoring skills.”