This summer, Science Buddies welcomed its first set of Summer Science Fellows, a group of six entering college freshmen, all of whom competed at the Intel ISEF during their senior year in high school. These six students have been working on projects at Science Buddies in various areas of the organization, ranging from market research and analysis to the testing of Project Ideas in the Science Buddies directory. As a group, they are also working on a collaborative challenge project. The fellows have attended Science Buddies' monthly company meetings as well as special fellows-only meetings and seminars designed to cover skills they will use during their college years and beyond.
If successful, Science Buddies hopes to continue the Summer Science Fellows program in future years, cultivating a growing group of young scientists who spend time with Science Buddies during the transitional summer before college and become a part of Science Buddies' extended family.
The participants in this year's Summer Science Fellows program are an eclectic group of students with diverse interests and wide-ranging areas of science expertise, a good bit of humor, and, in some cases, big appetites! We at Science Buddies have had a wonderful time getting to know these students in recent weeks and wanted to give you a chance to "meet" this inspiring group of science students!
| | Blake Marggraff - Hometown: Lafayette, CA
- College: Washington University, St. Louis, MO
- ISEF Project: "Treatment of Simulated Cancer Cells with Compton Scattering-Produced Secondary Radiation"
- Favorite Scientist: Marie Curie. "Nothing in life is to be feared—it is only to be understood."
- Most Important Scientific Discovery/Principle: Ionizing radiation
- What's on His Ipod: Lots of podcasts: Radiolab, This American Life, Science Friday, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, The Moth, and many more...
- Hobbies: Scouting, hiking, camping, Tae Kwon Do, Wikipedia
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Damon Kawamoto - Hometown: Santa Cruz, CA
- College: Brown University
- Planned College Major: Computer Science
- ISEF Project: "Abundance Estimate of the Sacramento Chinook Salmon through the use of Genetic Data"
- Favorite Scientist: Mendeleev
- Most Important Scientific Discovery/Principle:
- What's on Her Ipod: Pandora—pop, pop-country
- Go-To Quote: "The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds."—John F. Kennedy
- Hobbies: Tennis, cooking, robotics
- On working with Science Buddies: "I think that the most exciting thing about working at Science Buddies is that I'm part of a group of people who are making science accessible and exciting to students and families everywhere. I've always loved creating mini experiments and would spend my weekends building structures and testing hypotheses. I am excited that because of the work that Science Buddies is doing, more students will grow to love science."
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Danielle Nguyen - Hometown: Santa Cruz, CA
- College: McGill University
- Planned College Major: Biochemistry or microbiology/immunology
ISEF Project: "Abundance Estimate of the Sacramento Chinook Salmon through the use of
Genetic Data"
- Favorite Scientist: "Ben Franklin, but not only because he was an ingenious scientist, but because his ingenuity spanned across multiple disciplines. Very impressive!"
- Most Important Scientific Discovery/Principle: Harnessing electricity (go Ben!)
- What's on Her Ipod: Some dance music, pop electronica, and movie soundtracks (Inception&mdash';got to love that movie!)
- Go-To Quote: These are words to motivate me to do otherwise: "It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society"—Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Hobbies: Flute
- On working with Science Buddies: "I'm working on kit prototypes right now with the purpose of helping develop ways to increase the accessibility of science to curious young scientists. Knowing the direct applications of my work keeps me excited about the project that I'm doing!"
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| Kyra Grantz - Hometown: La Selva Beach, CA
- College: University of Chicago
- Planned College Major: Currently undecided; considering Chemistry, Classical Languages (with a focus in Latin), Film Studies, Political Sciences, and Mathematics.
- ISEF Project: "The Effects of Ocean Temperature on Aerosol Particle Absorption"
- Favorite Scientist: Bill Nye the Science Guy! (I actually don't really have a favorite scientist, but I absolutely loved the Bill Nye videos as a kid.)
- What's on Her Ipod: Pretty much everything, but always the Rolling Stones, the Shins and movies scores (Morricone, Herrmann, Bernstein)
- Go-To Quote: "The world is wide, and I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum."—Frances Willard
- Hobbies: Basketball, swimming, theater production, volunteering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, watching classic movies
- On working with Science Buddies: It's definitely hard to pinpoint the one thing I find most exciting when working for Science Buddies in and of itself is so inspiring. If I had to choose, I would say I am most excited about working with my fellow interns on our group assignments.
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Madeline Sides - Hometown: Davis, CA
- College: Stanford University
- Planned College Major: Bioengineering
- ISEF Project:
- Favorite Scientist: Rachel Carson
- What's on Her Ipod: Classic rock
- Go-To Quote: "Friendship with oneself is important, because without it one cannot be a true friend to anyone else in the world."—Eleanor Roosevelt
- Hobbies: Skiing, art, travelling, outdoor activities
- On working with Science Buddies: "I am excited to be back with Science Buddies. It's a cool organization with nice people and an important mission/product. I look forward to building on my experiences from last summer and exploring other areas of the organization. I also hope to learn more about the workings of businesses and nonprofit organizations."
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Matthew Feddersen - Hometown: Lafayette, CA
- College: University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, IL
- Planned College Major:
- ISEF Project: "Treatment of Simulated Cancer Cells with Compton Scattering-Produced Secondary Radiation"
- Favorite Scientist: Nikolai Tesla
- Most Important Scientific Discovery/Principle: Transistor
- What's on His Ipod: Classical, hip hop, soundtracks
- Hobbies: Karate, frisbee, piano, drums, robotics
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