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I was born in Norwich, Connecticut on June 17th, 1988. My parents are divorced, so I grew up with my Mom and sister in the small, rural town of Franklin. I spent most of my young years playing outside in the woods with my sister. We caught frogs and bugs and made "homes" in the trees. I was fascinated by nature, and was always trying to find out the way things work. This led me to become very interested in science; It was always my favorite subject in school. I entered my first school science fair in 5th grade when I did a project about the plants. I won a blue ribbon in 6th grade when I did an experiment testing which medium a seed will grow best in. I tested a variety of mediums such as popcorn seeds, sunflower seed and different soils. My parents also influenced my interest from a very young age, as they both have large bacgrounds in science. Both my Mom and Dad graduated from the University of Maine as physics majors. My Mom is now a mechanical engineer and my Dad is an optometrist. In addition, my Grandfather on my Mom's side, Henry O Hooper, is a retired physics professor. He worked on a lot of research in his graduate and undergraduate years. He went on from there to teach and eventually become dean of the University of Maine. He has always been a big influence on my interest in science. When I was 13, my Mom took me to "Bring You Daughter to Work Day" at Millstone Nuclear Power Station. It was then that I got my first real look at science in the work world. I got to see he office where she worked and also got a small tour of the plant. We got to go into the HUGE turbine building and also in the "submarine doors" where all the pumps and fish filters were. She won me over that day, and I decided I was going to look at science not just as a hobby but also as a possible career. This is also why, when I was only 13, I could have explained in detail and drawn how the 2 main types of nuclear power reactors work (PWR and BWR). When I went to high school, I attended a school known nationally for its tremendous academic reputation. The Norwich Free Academy was a blue ribbon-winning school the year I enrolled. Interestingly enough, the library there is named after Edwin Land, a famous alumus there and also the inventor of polarizers! It was then that I was finally able to immerse myself in school and pursue my interests in science. I took as many science courses as I could fit into my schedule, trying to sample everything available. These include anatomy and physiology, astronomy, marine biology, forensic science and multimedia engineering. It seemed like every time I took a new class, a new world of things to learn opened up. By the time I graduated high school, I wanted to be an astronaut, marine biologist, doctor, geologist, forensic anthropologist, pathologist, meteorologist, astrophysicist and pharmacologist. Up until then, my interest in chemistry had won me over, and in 2006 I came to Stony Brook University as a chemical engineering major. I learned about Stony Brook through a friend, who claimed it was an excellent school for science and engineering. I decided it would be cool to miss a day of school with a good excuse and went with her on a tour to check it out. Although it was a little farther from home than I wanted to go, I was really impressed by the location and campus. When I looked into the school more I found out about WISE and was pretty impressed. I applied late for the program and didn't really expect much, but was pleasantly suprised when I was accepted. Since I came to Stony Brook, I have been continually amazed by all the opportunities available to me as an undergraduate. In high school, I always thought all my interestes were just that...interests... not subjects for a career. Here, however it seems like anything you want to pursue in the sciences can easily become a reality. I am reconsidering my major, and may go through with studying my first love ... astronomy. When I was a young teenager, I was looking through the basement in my grandparent's house and found a telescope that seemed totally unused. I brought it outside and tried it out, but found there was a giant dead spider in the tube! Hoping I could figure it out, I took the telescope apart that night and cleaned it. It was really amazing to see the inner workings of the instrument, and examine the many lenses. When I put it back together, it worked perfectly and I had a new toy! I was allowed to bring it back home, where I was then able to have an even better view of the night sky. This allowed me to indulge myself more than I ever could. In high school I took Intro to A.P. Physics in Junior year and A.P. Physics in my senior year. This series was simply a broken-up version of the University of Connecticut freshman physics course. The Intro portion was a course covering the basics of optics in the first semester and thermodynamics in the second semester. The second year of the course was devoted to the basics of electricity and magnetism, kinematics, modern physics, and relativity. These courses were my first ever in physics, and left me wanting more. Luckily, I had a good teacher the first time, and had him for both part of the course. I can't wait to go back to visit him and tell him about my experience here! This semester I am enrolled in Physics 131, with Professor Rijssenbeek. I want to study here at Stony Brook and hopefully work on some research projects as an undergraduate. After I graduate from Stony Brook I plan to spend a lot of time in Europe and and if all goes well I will study there. I want to earn my Masters or PhD in either Holland or Germany.
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