A twenty thousand dollar gift from AT&T will help to launch a speakers program at the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at WKU. Gatton Director Tim Gott says the program will benefit students and members of the general public, because the speeches will be held in locations that will allow members of the public and campus community to attend.
Dr. Julia Roberts is the Executive Director of the Center for Gifted Studies and the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science. She says the program will encourage students at the Academy to learn about new developments in the fields of science, engineering , technology, and mathematics and to prepare for possible future career opportunities. Dan Modlin has more on the story.
This summer, three academy students received an opportunity to experience situations that normally only those in the medical professions have the chance to see and do.
Lori Lovell, Jeet Parankh, and Erin Walch attended PEPP (Professional Education Preparation Program), a program held at the Pikeville School of Osteopathic Medicine. The goal of PEPP is both to give rising high school juniors and seniors the chance to explore some of the experiences that a medical practitioner and student might encounter, and to introduce students to the nature of dormitory life over a three-week residential program.
Walch explained that PEPP offers students a wide variety of experience in an atmosphere of professionalism. “This program introduces high school students to the atmosphere of medical school with opportunities to observe medical practitioners, work on donated cadaver bodies, and learn concepts in lecture style classes,” she said.
According to Lovell, the best part of the program was “the amazing staff of Pikeville Medical School who generously shared their time and experience with the students. From hematology to the skeletal system, the professors always found a way to make medicine more interesting.”
The entirety of the program is not simply defined in the lab or classroom either. While attending, Walch had the opportunity to scrub into a knee surgery, work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and participate in a series of radiology labs. Then, after two weeks of working hard, the students went to Pigeon Forge and stay at Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend to let off some steam.
Walch stated that she thinks that the program is successful in demonstrating some of the grueling circumstances that are prevalent in medical school and erasing some misconceptions that students might have about studying medicine.
Lovell concluded that the program “is a great stepping stone to greater things in the medical field,” and that she “would definitely recommend this program to a friend interested in pursuing a career as a physician.”
Today was the Fighting Automatons first full day in London. Groups divided up after breakfast and went on their separate ways into one of the largest cities in the world. It turned out to be a day filled with seeing many tourist attractions and having dreams come true.
My group’s journey took us to the home of the tennis tournament know solely as The Championships, Wimbledon. The over 40 acre private country club features over 20 tennis courts including 15 made of grass. The museum was the most intriguing and engaging museum that I had ever been to. With the history of tennis being told in the museum from the first Wimbledon tournament 125 years ago to the present day title win of Novak Djokovic just a month ago. The museum featured touch screen tables with information on past and present players.
The tour took us to areas of the grounds off limits when The Championships are being held. We were allowed to see the famous Center and No. 1 courts as well as the court in which Isner and Mahut battled to the longest game in tennis history lasting over 10 hours and spanning three days. We went to the press room and were able to set on the stage where the players sit after games for interviews. We ended the tour with a trip down the hall of champions which had the names of all winners whether it was doubles or singles in the history of Wimbledon.
My group proceeded to take advantage of our day pass on the London Underground and visited Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. Other groups had the same idea as some visited the palace and iconic clock tower. Some went to plays and musicals, while some did shopping and dining at the Hard Rock Café on their 40th anniversary.
London definitely is a city filled with adventures and iconic tourist attractions. We have one more full day in London before boarding our plane Monday afternoon to head back to the United States. What adventures will await us tomorrow in the host of the 2012 Olympic Games?
Our trip began today with something many of us were really looking forward to, a train ride across the English countryside. Since many of us had never rode a train before we were eagerly awaiting the experience. It was cool to say that I’ve been on a train before but it definitely isn’t the way that I would do most of my traveling.
After a decent train ride, we had finally found ourselves in the city of York. We were greeted with a skyline view of our first stop, the York Minister, the one of the largest gothic cathedrals in northern Europe. Walking through the halls really brought you back to when the place was first built. Especially down in the crypts of the Minister. Plenty of artifacts could be seen, it really gave made you appreciate just how great these people must have been if there history could still be seen today.
After we had spent some time at the Minister, we took a little stroll to Clifford’s Tower, the city’s local castle. It gave us a beautiful view of the city but what most of us enjoyed the most about was playing dress-up. It was too tempting to put on some medieval clothing and pretend to be royalty and snap a few pics in the throne.
Once our castle visit, the group began to split up as it was our time to explore York for ourselves. There were far too many shops for us to visit them all so we did our best to only hit up the best ones we could find. Much to our delight, Will Bickett and I had found what we had spent all our time in England looking for, top hats. We decided to mull over our decision a little longer over an early dinner but this would prove to be our downfall. Walking around the corner we met found Corey who brought us the news that York was basically shutting down for the night right at 5. We hurried over to the hat store but were too late. Since all of the shops were closed, there wasn’t much to do until our departure in two hours so we walked around for a little more until we decided to end the night with a quick bite to eat on the riverside before we needed to head back to Harlaxton to prepare for our next trip to the Lake District.
Nick Zolman shares findings at the 2011 NCSSSMST Student Research Conference.
by Rachel Metcalfe, Academy Avatar
For six rising seniors at the Academy, the beginning of their summer started with a bang.
Shortly after the conclusion of their junior years, they traveled to Annapolis, Maryland, for research presentations at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Math, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) Student Research Conference. These students prepared and presented research, while also enjoying the sights of the beautiful Naval Academy campus.
For Sammi Hawtrey, a senior from Boone County, the conference provided another opportunity to share her findings from work accomplished during her junior year. “I wanted to attend to have another opportunity to present my research and also hear about the other research that students similar to myself have been doing all over the country,” she said.
114 students were in attendance presenting on a variety of topics, ranging from nanoparticles to rugby to sound waves. A combination of oral and poster presentations took place over two days during the conference. The six Gatton attendants were evenly split between the two presentation formats. Participants Andrea Eastes, Lori Lovell, and Sammi Hawtrey all reported on their genome research that they had completed over the previous two semesters at the academy. Jack Ferguson showed off his chemistry expertise, while Ben Rice presented his physics research and Nick Zolman informed the others about his astronomy breakthroughs.
When they weren’t presenting, students took yard tours of midshipmen training boats, visited the Naval Academy Museum, and mingled with all the other students at the conference from 24 participating member consortium schools. The students also played recreational sports with the midshipmen and learned from them how life at sea works. Additionally, students were able to partake in a laser light session with a Naval Academy professor, studying how light passes through different objects. The experience was an excellent way for the students to see the academy as a possible college option as well.
Although there were lots of neat experiences, attendee Nick Zolman decided that his favorite part was when the head of the conference approached him after he had presented to discuss his research. “He was really interested in my study about supernovae in the CANDELS Hubble Space Telescope and wanted to learn more,” he said.
Hawtrey fondly listed her time on the Yard Patrol boat as the most memorable part of the conference. “I loved seeing the living quarters and engine room. The captain even let me drive,” she added.
The research conference was a success for the Gatton Academy students. Hopefully more will continue to present their findings at conferences like these, and gain not only research experience, but also academic advancement from the other students and their presentations.
Student presentations at the conference included:
Andrea Eastes (’12) of Mayfield gave an oral presentation titled “Isolation of the Bacteriophage Liberi”
Jack Ferguson (’12) of Union presented a poster titled “Synthesis of Fluorescein Isothiocyanate Functionalized Nanoparticles”
Samantha Hawtrey (’12) of Union presented a poster titled “Isolation, Characterization, and Annotation: the Acquisition of a Novel Bacteriophage Genome”
Lori Lovell (’12) of Florence gave an oral presentation titled “Isolation of Novus, a Novel Bacteriophage Isolated from Florence, Kentucky”
Benjamin Rice (’12) of Somerset presented a poster titled “Gamma-ray Spectra in Neutron-Based Explosives Detection Systems”
Nicholas Zolman (’12) of Mount Sterling gave an oral presentation titled “A Light in the Darkness: Finding Type Ia Supernovae in the CANDELS Hubble Space Telescope Survey”
