Since 2010, the Gatton Academy has offered students the ability to pursue summer research experiences through the Gatton Research Internships Grants (RIG) program.  Made possible through the generous support of Mr. Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, the program offers competitive grants to Gatton Academy students between their junior and senior years to support summertime research internships across the Commonwealth and the world.  By providing a funding mechanism, the program directly creates new avenues for growth and exploration.  Throughout the summer, we’ll share insights from students who are the recipients of our 2011 grants.

Rebecca Brown (’12) of Boston, KY is spending part of her summer working with Dr. Michael Carini of the WKU Department of Physics and Astronomy studying Optical Monitoring of TeV Candidate Blazars.

1. What does research mean to you as a young person interested in STEM?

To me, research is being able to produce new data. By doing research, you’re contributing something new to the scientific community.

2. Tell us a little about the research experience in which you are participating this summer that the Research Internship Grant is funding.

My research is in astronomy/astrophysics. I’m staying on WKU campus for five weeks continuing the research I started last semester. From 9 to 5 on weekdays, I work in the Physics and Astronomy Department reducing data from images of blazars taken from the Kitt Peak telescope in Arizona. The data I’m collecting is a measurement of the blazars’ magnitude, or brightness, which in turn indicates whether or not it’s actively consuming matter.

3. Will you be using this research experience as a launching point for any particular applications, competitions, or scholarships?

As part of the internship, I have to write a research paper. This paper closely follows those for Siemens competition entries, so I hope to use a polished version of the research paper to enter.

4. How does this research experience or internship fit into your educational and professional goals?

In the short-term, it allows me to catch up on the backlog of data the tends to accumulate with the pictures I’m working with by allowing me more consistent time to research. In the long-term, it gives me experience which will help me attain my career goals (astrophysicist and professor). In addition it ensures that I actually know what I’m getting into with my field, and won’t end up backing out halfway through a degree.

5. What do you aspire to achieve in the next ten years?

I’d like to attend a reputable college with a good astronomy department and eventually work my way up to a Ph.D. I would continue research along the way.

Since 2010, the Gatton Academy has offered students the ability to pursue summer research experiences through the Gatton Research Internships Grants (RIG) program.  Made possible through the generous support of Mr. Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, the program offers competitive grants to Gatton Academy students between their junior and senior years to support summertime research internships across the Commonwealth and the world.  By providing a funding mechanism, the program directly creates new avenues for growth and exploration.  Throughout the summer, we’ll share insights from students who are the recipients of our 2011 grants.

John “Jack” Ferguson (’12) of Union is working with Dr. Hemali Rathnayake of the WKU Department of Chemistry this summer on his project titled Fluorescein and FITC Derivatives Functionalized Silsesquioxane/Bridged Silsesquioxane Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization, and Particle Morphology.

1. Tell us a little about the research experience in which you are participating this summer that the Research Internship Grant is funding.

I am working on the synthesis of fluorescein silsesquioxane nanoparticles with Benzyl Chloride. It sounds really complicated, but it’s basically attaching fluorescent particles onto silica spheres smaller than cells for bio imaging.

2. Will you be using this research experience as a launching point for any particular applications, competitions, or scholarships?

This research will be used on any applications I can fit it on, and I will be sure to enter it into the Siemens and Intel competitions.

3. What are you looking forward to the most about your second year at the Academy?

I am really excited for my new classes, but I think I am more interested in the new students coming to the Academy.

4. What is your biggest Gatton Academy accomplishment?

My personal favorite would be that I scored in the 77th percentile on the ACS organic chemistry II exam. I did better than 77 percent of college juniors across the nation.

5. What do you love most about the Gatton Academy?

The RC setup. The connection built between students on floors is great. We could all live in our own little worlds and not know each other, but the social atmosphere of the Academy has made me more friends than I’ve ever had before.

Since 2010, the Gatton Academy has offered students the ability to pursue summer research experiences through the Gatton Research Internships Grants (RIG) program.  Made possible through the generous support of Mr. Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, the program offers competitive grants to Gatton Academy students between their junior and senior years to support summertime research internships across the Commonwealth and the world.  By providing a funding mechanism, the program directly creates new avenues for growth and exploration.  Throughout the summer, we’ll share insights from students who are the recipients of our 2011 grants.

David Sekora (’12) of Franklin is researching in knot theory to study DNA with Dr. Claus Ernst of the WKU Department of Mathematics and Computer Science this summer.

1. Tell us a little about the research experience in which you are participating this summer that the Research Internship Grant is funding:

This summer, I am researching knot theory under Dr. Claus Ernst here at Western. I am mainly working on various Mathematica functions to help analyze and understand knots, but I am also learning a considerable amount of knot theory and sitting in on a complex analysis class too!

2. What is the part of the summer experience you are enjoying most?

I am enjoying the fact that this is pretty much like being at Gatton, without the classes! Most of my friends are here doing research, and I am immersed in math!

3. How is this different from the way you think most high school students spend their summers?

Most high school students spend their summers goofing off – playing video games, driving around town and getting in trouble, etc.. On the contrary, I am sitting here in an office, on a computer, not playing World of Warcraft but using Mathematica!

4. What are you looking forward to the most about your second year at the Academy?

I’m looking forward to being an Avatar. It will be cool to be a role model for the incoming juniors. Also, I like having the added responsibility of being part of the Academy’s PR team!

5. What do you love most about the Gatton Academy?

What I love most about the Gatton Academy is the sense of community. We have our own little world in Florence Schneider, with our own culture and sensibilities. There is a common Academy Spirit shared by most of the students that you just can’t find anywhere else.

Since 2010, the Gatton Academy has offered students the ability to pursue summer research experiences through the Gatton Research Internships Grants (RIG) program.  Made possible through the generous support of Mr. Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, the program offers competitive grants to Gatton Academy students between their junior and senior years to support summertime research internships across the Commonwealth and the world.  By providing a funding mechanism, the program directly creates new avenues for growth and exploration.  Throughout the summer, we’ll share insights from students who are the recipients of our 2011 grants.

This summer, Christian Jolly (’12) of Henderson is working on research with Dr. Steven Gibson of the WKU Department of Physics and Astronomy to analyze radio telescope data to investigate galaxy structure.

1. Will you be using this research experience as a launching point for any particular applications, competitions, or scholarships?

The research I’m doing is actually quite groundbreaking making any results fairly significant. This will definitely be a huge selling point for applications and scholarships and you can be sure you’ll see this around Intel and Siemens.

2. How does this research experience or internship fit into your educational and professional goals?

A better fit could not have been found. This is exactly the type of work a person of my desired profession will be doing on a daily basis giving me a strong foundation to base my decision on.

3. What is your favorite Gatton Academy memory?

My favorite academy memory is one that will live in the hearts of second floor boys forever. It was 2’am when a pipe burst above my room. The community factor was quickly realized as everyone pitched in by both moving furniture out of the room and sacrificing their towels in an effort to clean up!

4. What is your biggest Gatton Academy accomplishment?

My biggest accomplishment is taking on Astrophysics, a class with four pre-req’s that I was missing and only four other seniors willing to take on the load. I worked very hard in that class and was proud of the B I made.

5. How does the Gatton Academy help Kentucky from your point of view?

The academy shows youth that there are actually opportunities in their home state. Speaking from experience I always believed it would be necessary for me to go up north to do the type of specialized research I’m doing now!

Since 2010, the Gatton Academy has offered students the ability to pursue summer research experiences through the Gatton Research Internships Grants (RIG) program.  Made possible through the generous support of Mr. Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, the program offers competitive grants to Gatton Academy students between their junior and senior years to support summertime research internships across the Commonwealth and the world.  By providing a funding mechanism, the program directly creates new avenues for growth and exploration.  Throughout the summer, we’ll share insights from students who are the recipients of our 2011 grants.

Charlotte Humes (’12) of Bardstown is performing research with Dr. Matthew Nee of the WKU Department of Chemistry where she is designing, constructing, and using a time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectrometer for the purpose of measuring energy and charge transfer in alternative energy materials.

1. Tell us a little about the research experience in which you are participating this summer that the Research Internship Grant is funding.

I am working in the Chemistry department under the instruction of Dr. Nee. The lab in which I am working is home to a number of lasers, but unfortunately, most of them are currently not working. During this summer, I’m fixing a couple of the lasers with the intent of making them ready for use in fluorescence measurements.

2. What is the part of the summer experience you are enjoying most?

I really enjoy the setting of research. Going home to see family during the summer is always nice, but the chance to spend part of my summer in a very independent, highly academic, environment is a great opportunity. It allows me to have a foretaste of what it will be like to live on my own.

3. What does research mean to you as a young person interested in STEM?

Research allows me to really become involved in a subject I love. It allows me to use my interests and curiosities as a springboard for ideas—I can pursue the questions I truly care about answering.

4. What do you love most about the Gatton Academy?

Everything! The Academy has provided me with an opportunity for which I am so grateful. Your experience at the Academy is what you make of it, and you have wonderful resources at your fingertips. It has allowed me to take courses that force me to think, has taught me skills (such as computer programming) I would never have been able to learn otherwise, and provided me with a community of so many amazing people.

5. How did you feel on your first day at the Gatton Academy? Now?

I was actually the first person to arrive on move-in day, and I remember being ecstatic to finally be there, practically skipping in to the dorm. Last year, going to the Academy felt like embarking upon an adventure; this year, it feels like coming home.

Since 2010, the Gatton Academy has offered students the ability to pursue summer research experiences through the Gatton Research Internships Grants (RIG) program.  Made possible through the generous support of Mr. Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, the program offers competitive grants to Gatton Academy students between their junior and senior years to support summertime research internships across the Commonwealth and the world.  By providing a funding mechanism, the program directly creates new avenues for growth and exploration.  Throughout the summer, we’ll share insights from students who are the recipients of our 2011 grants.

Benjamin Rice (’12) of Somerset is working with Dr. Phillip Womble at WKU’s Applied Physics Institute this summer, assisting in the development of a data analysis system for a project with Northrup Grumman.

1. What is the part of the summer experience you are enjoying most?

I enjoy the freedom the most. At my old high school, I would not have as much freedom that I do at the Gatton Academy.

2. How is this different from the way you think most high school students spend their summers?

It is completely different. If I were at home now, I would probably be working, but instead I have the opportunity to do research.

3. What do you love most about the Gatton Academy?

My favorite part about the Gatton Academy is being able to take advanced classes that I would have not been able to take at my home high school.

4. What is your biggest Gatton Academy accomplishment?

My biggest accomplishment at the Gatton Academy so far is making an A in physics 255. It was a very challenging class that really pushed me to my limits.

5. What do you aspire to achieve in the next ten years?

In the next ten years I plan to graduate from the Gatton Academy, graduate from the United States Naval Academy with a degree in aeronautical engineering, and become a NAVY pilot.