Graduate students can benefit from a new fellowship established in honor of the first recipient of a physics doctorate at Iowa State. Next fall, the ISU Department of Physics and Astronomy will be offering a fellowship in honor of the late Robert Bowie. Evelyn Bowie, who graduated in 1929 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Iowa State, is donating the $100,000 gift on behalf of her husband. “The physics department was very wonderful to Bob and gave him such a good education that I thought I should give back a little to help future physics students with their education,” she said. The fellowship is the first endowed fellowship for the department. It was given in stocks to the ISU Foundation and will be managed by the foundation. The Robert M. and Evelyn W. Bowie Physics Fellowship is for graduate students in the department. Alan Goldman, professor and chairman of physics and astronomy, said the fellowship is a “fabulous opportunity for graduate students in physics and astronomy.” Robert Bowie obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1929, a master’s degree in physics in 1931 and a doctorate in physics in 1933, all from Iowa State. After he graduated from Iowa State, Bowie joined the engineering staff of Hygrade Sylvania Corporation of Emporium, Pa., researching radio and television tubes. He moved to Bay Side, NY, and helped establish a new lab for the company. These labs became General Telephone & Electronics (GTE) Laboratories, Inc. Bowie became vice president and general manager of these labs before he retired in 1964. Robert and Evelyn Bowie resettled in Ames after he retired. Robert died in March 1999 and Evelyn still resides in Ames. Evelyn Bowie is allowing the department to choose the fellowship recipients. The department can choose to award one or two graduate students, and the fellowship will start being offered in Fall 2001.