RICHLAND, April 21, 2010: A students from Washington State will be able to worry a little less about paying for her college education. Katrina Hui , a sophomore at Richland High School is the $5,000 Distinguished Award recipient of the EnergySolutions Foundation scholarship. This is in addition to the initial $2,000 scholarship she received from the Foundation earlier this year.
“Because the scholarship program is an extension of our commitment to this great community where EnergySolutions employees live and work, I am so happy for the difference this will make in Rebecca’s education,” said Val Christensen, CEO of EnergySolutions.
Exemplary students from eligible schools in eight states and Canada were selected to receive $2,000 merit-based scholarships. All recipients were then entered into the competition for the three Distinguished Awards. Katrina was selected from a pool of applicants from Canada, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and other Washington students to receive the additional $5,000 Distinguished Award scholarship which is to be used in math, science, or engineering studies. A student in Georgia was selected to receive the $2,500 Distinguished Award and a student in New Mexico was selected to receive the $25,000 award.
The EnergySolutions Foundation began the scholarship program in 2006 as a way to promote the study of math, science, and engineering to encourage the next generation of professionals to seek degrees in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, ecology, engineering, environmental science, geology, geophysics, mathematics, meteorology, or physics. As of this year, EnergySolutions Foundation has awarded 36 scholarships to students in eligible schools in the Tri Cities area totaling $107,000 in scholarship awards.
Katrina wants to study physics at the University of California at Berkeley. Although she has not taken a physics course, she has worked through half of a physics text book on her own during the summer because the subject excites and challenges her. Katrina says that knowledge alone does not guarantee success. Imagination is necessary for new ideas to solve old problems. She goes on to say that imagination is the precursor for new knowledge. She wants to be able to use her knowledge to address challenges such as energy, materials, and climate change.
She has been figure skating for seven years and enjoys thinking about the physics of the center of gravity, speed, angular motion and how they affect her spins and jumps. This year she placed second in the Northwest Pacific Regional Figure Skating Competition. She also placed second in Ice Fest Seattle.
She participated in the Mid-Columbia Science and Engineering Fair in the last two years with physics projects. Last year she won first place for her project on application of optical diffraction for the comparison of the track pitches of a CD and a DVD. She used red and green laser pointers and applied the principles of wave interference and optical diffraction and was able to determine the track pitch of a CD and DVD to less than 3% error. In 8th grade she won first place in the same competition for her project that determined the speed of sound at different temperatures. She applied the concept of harmonics and resonance to determine the speed of sound at different temperatures accurate to less than 1% error.
Mitch Davis, her AP Biology teacher, says, “Katrina’s scope of success is remarkable.” Rennee DeBuigne, her honors pre calculus teacher says, “Katrina is a truly gifted student with an understanding of mathematics far beyond that of the average high school student and her work ethic matches her intellectual talents.”
“Our goal with the EnergySolutions Foundation scholarship program is to help these motivated students fulfill their desire of a college education,” said Tom Yount , President of Engineering and Technology, EnergySolutions.
The EnergySolutions Foundation will honor all Washington scholarship recipients at a banquet on Tuesday, May 4th at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.
For more information about the scholarship program, please contact either Lori Lott (509) 948-1354 or Pearl Wright at (801) 870-1505 or visit our website at www.energysolutionsfoundation.org.
