CONWAY, Ark. (June 26, 2009) – Hendrix College senior Mallory Young has been awarded a Society of Physics Students Leadership Scholarship. Leadership scholars like Young are selected on the basis of high academic performance, active participation in SPS programs, and their intention to continue scholastic development in physics. The scholarship is worth $2000.
Young was elected president of Hendrix SPS her junior year, during which she revitalized the 30-year-old chapter.
“Under Mallory’s leadership our SPS chapter started a regular speaker series, doubled in size, and as invested itself in service events for the college and outreach to the community at large,” said Dr. Todd Tinsley, assistant professor of physics, who advises the Hendrix chapter. “To say that Mallory has been helpful in reinvigorating our chapter would be a gross understatement.”
A native of Oregon City, Ore., Young loves horseback riding and playing the violin. Above all, she is a physics aficionado. She is a nationally recognized and certified physics tutor, and she excels in the laboratory.
“For the past year I have taken part in researching neutrino-stimulated pair production in intense magnetic fields typical of supernovae,” she wrote in her SPS personal statement. “I fell in love with particle astrophysics and plan to pursue a PhD with a specialization in this field.”
She presented her research project, “Neutrino-Stimulated Pair-Creation in Supernovae,” this spring at the American Physical Society meeting in Denver. She was one of eight undergraduates whose outstanding presentations were recognized with book awards.
This summer Young will gain further research experience at Purdue University, working on image simulations for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is an undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2008 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.
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