Biography
I am a junior at Skyline High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I have home schooled several different subjects, taken independent study courses, and courses from Idaho State University (ISU). My interests are primarily in physics, math and engineering. In seventh grade I read Black Holes and Time Warps and became very interested in astrophysics, quantum mechanics, and calculus. In eighth grade I taught myself calculus so that I could solve interesting physics problems. As a high school freshman I took Engineering Physics from ISU and made the Skyline Science Bowl team. I also participated in the AMC-12, the Chemistry Olympiad, and received a bronze in the Idaho Mathematics Exam. In my sophomore year I took multivariable calculus, discrete mathematics and optics. I was also part of the five-member team that went to the National Science Bowl, which was a very exciting experience. In both the Physics and Chemistry Olympiads I was a semi-finalist and placed Silver in the USAMTS Math competition. The Physics Bowl at the Lagoon amusement park in Utah was the most fun of all the contests. The Physics Bowl has a format like the Science Bowl but uses physics questions exclusively, thus combining my favorites, quick responses and physics. We had a lot of fun and placed first. Over the summer of 2002 I worked at the Idaho Accelerator Center at ISU where I ran computer models and conducted experiments to detect the presence of uranium via delayed neutron and gamma emissions after an accelerator pulse. During my junior year I took complex variables and differential equations. This year I took the AIME and was an All-State and All-Regional player at the Science Bowl competition. Besides physics and math I enjoy building model airplanes and skiing. I am looking forward to this physics camp and would like to thank my parents, teachers and Professor Hackworth for encouraging and teaching me physics.