Gatton students recognized by Siemens

Congratulations to Ryle senior Samantha Hawtrey, who is currently attending the Gatton Academy at WKU!

Gatton students recognized by Siemens

Five second-year students at Western Kentucky University’s Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky have been recognized by the Siemens Foundation as national semifinalists in the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.  Lori Lovell, a senior from Florence, and Samantha Hawtrey, a senior from Union, were honored in the team category.

As the nation’s leading original research competition in math, science and technology for high school students, the Siemens Competition is administered annually by the College Board, and awards scholarships to students in both individual and team categories.

An all-time record 2,436 students nationwide registered to enter the 2011-12 Siemens Competition for an unprecedented 1,541 projects submitted. Approximately 300 semifinalists were recognized.
Reaching the semifinalist stage of this competition puts any student into an elite crowd of the nation’s top high school-aged researchers. To achieve this accolade, students each committed hundreds of hours outside their course schedules researching, writing their reports and refining drafts with their mentors.

Derick Strode, the Gatton Academy’s coordinator for research, internships and scholarships, said research not only serves as an important part of the Academy experience, but also is the springboard to future pursuits.

“Independent research allows motivated high school students a chance to explore a passion and try out a possible career path,” Strode said. “While young, these students are also proving they are ready to make serious contribution to research questions that affect our society.”
Hawtrey and Lovell’s project, "Isolation, Characterization, and Annotation: the Search for Novel Bacteriophage Genomes," stems from their participation in the WKU Genome Discovery and Exploration Program, which is currently sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science Education Alliance.

Bacteriophages, or viruses that infect bacteria, are the most common DNA-containing entities on earth, yet very few have been characterized. The purpose of the team’s research was to increase knowledge of phage biodiversity by isolating and characterizing two previously unknown phages.
Their findings were added to GenBank, the genetic sequence databases administered by the National Institute of Health. To date, 176 of 1,521 mycobacteriophages have been identified, isolated, sequence and eventually catalogued by GenBank.

Research mentor Dr. Rodney King, associate professor of biology and director of the WKU Biotechnology Center, guided the students through the process during the 2010-11 academic year. Dr. King said that Hawtrey and Lovell “demonstrated motivation, responsibility and perseverance throughout the course. These are important qualities for anyone interested in pursuing research and I believe they both have promising futures as researchers.”

Hawtrey sees the benefit of research as far more than just the process and academic outcomes. “Not only does participation in research enable you to apply your knowledge to real problems and gain practical skills, but it can also make a tangible difference,” Hawtrey said. “Most importantly, research is a chance to get involved in something bigger than yourself – something that could one day change the world.”