Area Teens Join UA Professors in Nanoscience Program

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Teenagers typically look for summer jobs at a grocery store or swimming pool, but nine Alabama high school students are spending this summer in a laboratory at The University of Alabama working as interns researching nanoparticles.

Dr. Dave Nikles, UA professor of chemistry and materials science and Dr. Gregory Thompson, UA assistant professor of metallurgical and materials engineering created and direct the Nanoscience and Engineering High School Internship program.

Interns are trained in safe laboratory practice and educated in the scientific principles underlying the research. They have joined a team consisting of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students from chemistry, chemical engineering, metallurgy and physics as well as other high school interns.

The 2007 Nanoscience Interns are:

Raechele Butler, Bryant High School, Tuscaloosa

Garrett Cain, Northridge High School, Tuscaloosa

Catherine Cook, Tuscaloosa Academy

Joey Howell, Tuscaloosa County High School

Hiram Purser, Hillcrest High School, Tuscaloosa

Chris Romanczuk, Randolph School, Huntsville

William Sherwood, Northridge High School, Tuscaloosa

Kristi Tippey, Central High School, Tuscaloosa

Mike Zhang, Alabama School of Math and Science, Mobile

The interns pursue basic research in materials science, said Nikles. “Each has their own unique project.”

The focus of the interns’ different projects includes: exploring the use of polymer films to detect explosives; designing new magnetic particles for cancer detection and therapy; studying the chemistry to make hafmium oxide coatings to protect the magnetic layers on hard disk drives; characterizing, at the atomic scale, how stainless steel compositions protect against corrosion; making high surface area nickel for energy storage and making electronic devices using photosynthetic centers, a hybrid of biology and electronics.

Thompson had a similar experience in high school, and it inspired him to pursue a career in research. He hopes this program inspires others to do the same.

The internships began on June 1 and will end Aug. 3 with the interns presenting their research at a minisymposium

This is the fourth year that this internship program has been offered. Many of the former interns are now undergraduate students at UA while some are still involved in research and have presented their results at national conferences.