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23 May 2003

McCarthy Observatory Student Wins Intel Science Fair

by Monty Robson

Editor's Note: We at SAS are incredibly proud of Lisa and this outstanding honor. Kudos also to Monty and his team at the West Connecticut Chapter of SAS, without whom the McCarthy Observatory would never have been built. Congratulations to all of you! We will feature more about this incredible achievement in the near future.-SG

NMHS Junior, and SAS mentoree Lisa Glukhovsky was one of 3 Grand Prize Winners at the 54th Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. 1,200 students from 38 countries competed in what is called "the world's largest pre-college celebration of science". For more see http://www.sciserv.org/isef/results/

This is a tremendous accomplishment for Lisa, a dedicated local student representing the best of our local school system. In addition, it is a demonstration of the benefits that our community can realize from the John J. McCarthy Observatory, the Western Connecticut Chapter of the Society for Amateur Scientists, and the volunteer staff at the observatory that provided mentorship to Lisa in her project.

Through the use of this unique facility, an outstanding student took on the challenge of a difficult and complex project and won top honors at one of the world's top science competitions.

Lisa's project "A Rapid, Accurate Method of Determining the Distance to Near Earth Asteroids" won the top prize of a $50,000 scholarship and a computer. She also won (at this fair):

Top First Place, Earth and Space Sciences Category	$5,000
First Award, Earth and Space Sciences Category	$3,000
American Astronomical Society and Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Priscilla and Bart Bok First Award	$5,000 (and $1,000 to NMHS Sci. Dept.)
Eastman Kodak Company First Award	$1,000
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps	$8,000

Many thanks are due to everyone who has been involved in Lisa's project and everyone involved in this observatory.