Around the Lab
Summer High School Program
February, 2003Each year, LLE invites area high school juniors to apply to a summer research program. Selected applicants are teamed with staff advisors and spend eight weeks working on individual research projects. These projects culminate in a symposium where the students present their findings to family, teachers, and members of the Laboratory’s scientific and technical staff. Fifteen students participated in 2002, the largest group in the program’s fourteen-year history.
The goal of LLE’s Summer High School Research Program is to excite a group of high school students about careers in the areas of science and technology by exposing them to research in a state-of-the-art environment. Too often, students are exposed to “research” only through classroom laboratories, which have prescribed procedures and predictable results. In LLE’s summer program, the students experience many of the trials, tribulations, and rewards of scientific research. By participating in research in a real environment, the students often become more excited about careers in science and technology. In addition, LLE gains from the contributions of the many highly talented students who are attracted to the program.
This year, Phoebe Rounds of Irondequoit High School was selected as a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search and Siddhartha Ghosh and Joy Yuan of Pittsford-Mendon High School were selected as semifinalists for research projects they carried out at LLE. These students are among the 300 semifinalists nationwide chosen from the 1600 who entered the competition, which is often regarded as a “Junior Nobel Prize.” Rounds designed a new frequency-conversion system that has the potential to create smoother laser beams. Ghosh carried out experimental work on improving high-speed x-ray streak cameras, instruments used to diagnose fusion experiments carried out on the OMEGA laser system, while Yuan performed computer simulations of a new type of laser amplifier. In recognition of their scientific achievements, each student will receive $1000 and their high schools will receive $1000 per semifinalist to support their science and math programs.
Rounds is one of 40 students who will travel to Washington D. C. in March to compete for scholarships up to $100,000. As a finalist, she will receive a $5000 scholarship and a high-performance computer.
We are proud of all our Summer High School Research Program participants, past and present. We look forward to continuing our mission of education by introducing young adults to scientific research.
Megan Alexander
Honeoye Falls-Lima High School
“Picket Pulse Shaping with Phase and Amplitude Modulation in the Frequency Domain”
Stefan Astheimer
Honeoye Falls-Lima High School
“Estimation of Magnetic Fields in Direct-Drive Implosions”
Christine Balonek
Byron-Bergen High School
“Optical Applications of Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Polysaccharides”
David Dingeldine
Churchville-Chili High School
“Plasma Energy Measurement with an Open-Cell Metal Foam”
Sonya Dumanis
Harley School
“Structure of Shell Modulations Near Peak Compression of Spherical Implosions”
Siddhartha Ghosh
Pittsford-Mendon High School
“Secondary Electrons from X-Ray Photocathodes”
Kyle Gibney
Livonia High School
“Computer-Controlled Neutron Diagnostics”
Sharon Jin
Victor High School
“A Ray-Tracing Model for Cryogenic Target Uniformity Characterization”
Jue Liao
Brighton High School
“Rayleigh-Taylor Growth Rates for Arbitrary Density Profiles Calculated with a Variational Method”
Christopher Moody
Spencerport High School
“Characterization of the Absorption Spectrum of Deuterium for Infrared Wavelengths”
Phoebe Rounds
Irondequoit High School
“Multiple-Tripler Broad-Bandwidth Frequency Conversion”
Micah Sanders
Pittsford-Mendon High School
“Thin Film Characterization of Al2O3Utilizing Reactive Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtering”
Gurshawn Singh
Rush-Henrietta High School
“2-D Pulsed Laser Beam Modeling Using PROP”
Archana Venkataraman
Brighton High School
“Characterization of Multilayer Diffractors for Framed Monochromatic Imaging”
Joy Yuan
Pittsford-Mendon High School
“Non-Collinear Phase Matching in Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplification”
James Keefer
Brockport Central Schools
Recipient, 2002 William D. Ryan Inspirational Teacher Award
This award honors teachers who have inspired High School Program participants in the areas of science, mathematics, and technology. Honorees are nominated by current and past participants of the LLE Summer High School Research Program and receive a $1000 cash award. Mr. Keefer was nominated by Priyamvada Rajasethupathy.