Collaboration Meeting in Stockholm
Credit: IceCube Collaboration

IceCube Impact Awards

The IceCube Impact Awards, established in 2018, recognize broad and significant contributions to IceCube that would not normally be acknowledged through its publications. There are three awards: individual, legacy, and group awards.

Current Recipients — Spring 2024

Lasse Halve — for key contributions to D-Egg and mDOM PMT testing with significant impact on optical module production for the IceCube Upgrade.

Massimiliano Lincetto — for exceptional support and improvements to two real-time software projects: SkyMist and Skymap Scanner.

Nora Valtonen-Mattila — for significant contributions to supernova monitoring operations, including the readout of HitSpool data in response to supernova alerts and introducing a novel application of the supernova data acquisition system.

The IceCube Group Impact Award:

Erik Ganster and Richard Naab — for leadership in enabling and supporting a wider use of the NNMFit analysis software tool in the collaboration.


Past Recipients

2023 (Spring)

  • Cristina Lagunas Gualda — for leadership in investigations into the characterization of track reconstruction, including angular errors, for real-time alerts.
  • Manuel Silva — for producing general purpose simulations, and providing high quality documentation, in support of many analyses.
  • Jessie Thwaites — for essential contributions to infrastructure for gravitational wave alert follow-up and dedication to making the collaboration and its science more accessible.
  • Group Impact Award:
    • Tania Kozynets and Tom Stuttard — for unrelenting investigations into systematic uncertainties in DeepCore and key contributions to IceCube Upgrade simulations.

2022 (Spring)

  • Thomas McElroy — for outstanding efforts on improving calibration and documentation of the effective optical module efficiency — a key systematic uncertainty in IceCube.
  • Jessie Micallef for developments and application of neural networks for DeepCore studies, and for sustained contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Tianlu Yuan for continuing efforts to improve simulation, reconstruction and the understanding of systematic uncertainties in IceCube.
  • Legacy Impact Award:
    • Serap Tilav for longstanding and outstanding contributions to all aspects of IceTop, and for being an invaluable resource for students, postdocs and other collaboration members.

2021 (Fall)

  • Alexander Trettin for key contributions to the treatment of systematic uncertainties in oscillation analyses as well as for taking a leading role in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in IceCube.
  • Spencer Griswold for outstanding contributions to the supernova DAQ software.
  • William Luszczak for key contributions to improving reproducibility of science results in IceCube and careful comparison of the TXS 0506+056 observations using various point source datasets.
  • Group Impact Award:
    • The 2021 Group Impact Award recognizes complete commitment by Colton Hill, Maximilian Meier, Yuya Makino, Ryo Nagai, Ken’ichi Kin, in spite of challenges presented by COVID-19, to the D-Egg project, including assembly, production, and development of FAT testing and of the mainboard.

2021 (Spring)

  • Alex Pizzuto for key contributions to the improvement of the fast response analysis and its exemplary documentation.
  • Robert Stein for key contributions to the improvement of the online alert system, including the automation and documentation of real-time event direction scans.
  • Sebastian Fiedlschuster for outstanding contributions in the development of IceCube’s GitHub model in its emergence as a central element of IceCube’s codebase.
  • Legacy Impact Award:
    • Kotoyo Hoshina for diligent perennial efforts in vetting and enhancing core IceCube software central to the collaboration’s physics analyses.

2020 (Fall)

  • Liz Freedman for a pivotal role in establishing an exemplary documentation culture via advancement of the data sample documentation and control system for the IceCube internal repository.
  • Mirco Huennefeld for recognized leadership in establishing Machine Learning as a central element in IceCube data analyses.
  • Mike Richman for outstanding contributions to the development of a broad suite of collaboration analysis software, including the neutrino point source csky package.
  • Group Impact Award:
    • The 2020 Group Impact Award recognizes key contributions by Ben Smithers, Christian Haack, Erik Ganster, Grant Parker, Ibrahim Safa, Jöran Stettner, Zelong Zhang to the development and implementation of a novel Monte Carlo tool for systematic studies relevant to a suite of data analyses.

2020 (Spring)

  • Carlos Argüelles for key contributions in the development of a suite of software tools used broadly in IceCube analyses, and his leading efforts in the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion within the collaboration.
  • Philipp Eller for key contributions to the development of and support for event reconstruction and detector systematics, in particular relevant to the collaboration’s low-energy analyses.
  • Summer Blot for lasting commitment to promote cooperation and cohesion within the collaboration environment, in particular through leadership in the advancement of the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Legacy Impact Award:
    • Chris Wendt for tireless efforts in the development of a detailed understanding of the DOMs, a cornerstone for all IceCube analyses, and of core electronic elements for the project.

2019 (Fall)

  • Lu Lu for leading contributions in promoting IceCube and its science to the general public, in particular through augmented reality experiences.
  • Thomas Kintscher for key contributions to the IceCube realtime-system software which has been crucial to many high-profile physics results.

2019 (Spring)

  • Joshua Wood for his leadership and commitment in transforming Skylab into a unified analysis framework for point source analyses.
  • Michael Larson for long-term key contributions to the areas of software development, simulation production and data processing central to a suite of data analyses.
  • Tessa Carver for key contributions to the improvements of level 3 muon and point source event selections which are the bases for multiple IceCube analyses.
  • Legacy Impact Award:
    • Chris Weaver for lasting contributions to the advancement, maintenance and support of several core IceCube software packages.

2018 (Fall)

  • Sarah Nowicki for long-standing contributions to the broad development of critical tools and advanced algorithms for reconstructing IceCube events.
  • Spencer Axani for key improvements to waveform calibration, the basis for IceCube data processing, and the development of hands-on particle physics outreach devices.

2018 (Spring)

  • Jakob van Santen for key contributions to improvements of, and support for, the core IceCube software and the crucial impact of those efforts on the broad scientific program.
  • Martin Rongen for key contributions to the detector calibrations that have substantially improved the understanding of the IceCube neutrino telescope.
  • Legacy Impact Award:
    • Dima Chirkin for perennial efforts in revolutionizing the methods to determine the deep glacial ice properties that have become a cornerstone for IceCube analyses.