The Astronomical League's 2002 National Young Astronomer
Award competition is completed. We have winners. Thousands
of high school students across the
country were eligible to compete for the 2002 award.
To quote one of the
judges for this program, "All are fine applicants,
and it is a tough job to
rank them. All are likely to be successful."
The applications were submitted to a panel of national
judges, all noted
astronomers. This year's judges were Dr. Frank Bash,
director of the McDonald Observatory, Dr. David Hans
Hough, professor at Trinity University and Dr. Robert
Stencel, professor at the University of Denver. In addition
to other prizes, all finalists won complimentary memberships
in the International Dark-Sky
Association. The results are:
Albert King Lin -1st place - Albert is the first
place NYAA winner. He is a senior at St. Francis
Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, New York. Albert
will receive an all expenses paid trip to the Astronomical
League's 55th annual convention at Salt Lake City,
Utah this July, where he will receive a $3000+ Meade
10-inch LX-200 telescope donated by Meade Instruments
Corporation. In addition, Albert will receive a
lifetime pass to the McDonald Observatory, compliments
of the University of Texas. He has been involved
in a variety of activities during his high school
career, including being co-president of the Science
Olympiad, president of his school's astronomy club,
a national student leadership conference alumni,
an
accomplished pianist, and major accomplishments
in the martial arts. He has
received many honors for his accomplishments in
science and math, including
an award at the Astronomy Competition at the 2000
Regional Science Olympiad. Albert has written a
paper entitled A Survey of the Public Chandra Data
Archive (CDA) in Search of Serendipitous X-ray Pulsars:
A Systematic Approach. In addition, he took a three-year
Science Research class developing his love of astronomy
into a real life project. He worked under the direction
of Dr. Eric V. Gotthelf at the Columbia Astrophysics
Laboratory doing research with pulsars. For this
work, he was named a 2002 Intel Semifinalist. He
has observed many Messier objects with his two telescopes
and is involved in astrophotography of planets,
the moon and wide-angle constellation shots. His
school has a new SBIG STV CCD camera, and he is
working on planetary shots with it. He often sets
up his telescope for public education at Custer
Observatory.
Daniel Hightower-2nd Place - Daniel, a junior at
Airport High School in West Columbia, South Carolina
has been awarded second place honors. He has won
a Meade ETX 125 telescope with computer controls
and field tripod valued at more than $1,000. In
addition, he won a trip to the Astronomical League's
annual convention in Salt Lake City, Utah this July.
Daniel will also receive a lifetime pass to the
McDonald Observatory. He is an active member of
his local astronomy club, the Midlands Astronomy
Club of Columbia, South Carolina and enjoys viewing
through his 10-inch
telescope. Daniel has become most knowledgeable
about objects in the night
sky, often being one of the people at his club's
local star parties who is
able to explain to the public what they are looking
at and help them gain a
new appreciation for the majesty and beauty of the
night sky. He keeps an
observation log with detailed drawings of many of
his observations. He has
viewed and logged many of the Messier objects and
has the goal of viewing all of them. Having his
own telescope just whetted his appetite for astronomy-related
activities. He is currently a teaching assistant
at the University of South Carolina's Melton Memorial
Observatory, where he helps teach the University's
astronomy classes. In addition, he has done astrophotography
and CCD imaging at the University's facility. Daniel
is emphasizing science and math in his high school
classes, as he excels in both of these areas. In
addition, he has given special astronomy presentations
at his school. His plans beyond high school are
to major in physics in college, with an emphasis
in astronomy, and then to possibly earn a Ph.D in
Radio Astronomy.
Ulyana Horodyskyj -3rd place - Our third place
winner is Ulyana Horodyskyj, a junior at Padua Franciscan
High School in Parma, Ohio. She is an A student
in her honors science and math courses, and she
presented her scientific research paper "Sailing
into Space: Reflecting on a Solution" at the
NASA-JPL/MSFC Eleventh Advanced Space Propulsion
Research Workshop in Pasadena California in 2000.
Ulyana has won many science fair awards and honors.
Her major accomplishments include the prestigious
2001 Intel international Science and Engineering
Fair "Best in Category Award-Earth and Space
Sciences" and "First Place Grand Award-
Earth and Space Sciences" for her "Sailing
into Space: Steering Toward Mars" scientific
research paper. This paper also won the Honorable
Mention in the category "Research Papers"
in the ninth international Competition "FIRST
STEP TO NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS." Ulyana has
won numerous science essay competitions and has
published science articles in The Ukrainian Weekly
Newspaper.
Lauren Rae Layton-4th place - Lauren Rae Layton
is a senior at Newark High School in Newark, Delaware,
and she placed 4th in this year's NYAA competition.
She has had a most active astronomy-related high
school career. She founded a successful Astronomy
& Aeronautics Club at her high school
during her sophomore year. The club has grown to
the point that two telescopes and a small astronomy
library were donated for its outreach effort. In
addition, Lauren has been involved in helping one
of her teachers create teaching materials for a
future meaningful astronomy course at a local high
school. Lauren is an active member of the Delaware
Astronomical Society, having presented programs
for the local club. In addition, she is the youngest
club member to pass the required training and be
granted a key to the club's Mt. Cuba telescope facility.
Contacts:
-------------------------------------
For more information about NYAA, contact Carroll Iorg
at
Carroll-Iorg@kc.rr.com (phone: 816-444-4878) or Terry
Mann at
starsrus@infinet.com (phone: 937-678-5032).
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