Five University of Massachusetts faculty members were awarded the 2024 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching last month, including Dr. Mohamed Amine Gharbi, an assistant professor of physics at UMass Boston The prize includes a $10,000 stipend given to one faculty member from each UMass campus in recognition of exemplary teaching and commitment to students and their campus community.

Gharbi has been at UMass Boston since 2018. He specializes in manipulating soft materials to assemble functional nanomaterials and biomaterials, aiming to create innovative “reconfigurable” systems with broad technological applications.

He finds immense joy in simplifying complex concepts and sharing the wonders of physics with students from diverse backgrounds. Over the last six years, he has taught a range of courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

His research efforts have yielded numerous peer-reviewed articles in esteemed journals. He earned his PhD in condensed matter physics from the University of Montpellier, France.

Former UMass Board of Trustees Chair Robert Manning and his wife Donna Manning, both graduates of UMass Lowell, established the endowed teaching award in 2016. In 2021, they made a $50 million gift to UMass, a portion of which established the Manning Prize.