December 10, 2002

Indiana teens place third in national contest;
ISU prof was mentor for South, Ben Davis students

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — One dreams of working for NASA. The other is torn between the diverse fields of bio-medical engineering and international relations.

Though still in high school, both say Indiana State University has helped them achieve as national finalists in a prestigious research competition.

Ann Chi, a junior at Terre Haute South Vigo High School, and Irene Sun, a senior at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, captured third place Monday (Dec. 9) in team competition at the Siemens Westinghouse Math, Science and Technology Competition in Washington, D. C. The two will split a $40,000 college scholarship.

Their project uses computational chemistry to determine how certain metals react with organic compounds. Computational chemistry utilizes computers to perform mathematical equations based on scientific theories. Chi and Sun advanced to the finals of the competition after winning one of six regional team titles last month at Notre Dame University.

Inspired to take on her first computational chemistry project by Dan Wunderlich, chemistry teacher at Terre Haute South and an ISU alumnus, Chi said she was "astounded" to see the level of research other high school students were doing when she attended the 2001 Siemens Westinghouse finals in Washington, D.C. She was in Washington to see her brother, Andrew, recognized as the Siemens Advanced Placement high school scholar of the year.

Seeking a project of her own for the Siemens Westinghouse Competition, Chi learned that Eric Glendening, associate professor of chemistry at Indiana State, was working on projects dealing with the catalytic reactions of transition metals with organic compounds.

Recognizing Chi's talent, Glendening offered to have her take on one of the projects and Chi invited her friend, Sun, to join her.

"The methods of approaching chemistry using computational and theoretical methods were really different from anything that I had ever been taught or anything that I ever had heard of," Sun said. "You always think of chemistry as some guy in a lab coat mixing these solutions together and then something happens like it explodes or turns colors or something, but this I thought was really innovative and really cutting edge."

Specifically, the Chi-Sun project looks at the reaction of the metal yttrium with ethylene

"Transition metals are very important in industrial processes, for example in making polymers or producing ammonia, and they're also important in our bodies as a carrier for oxygen and hemoglobin," Chi explained. "Our research is one step in the direction of understanding perhaps how all metals function and how we can employ these metals to benefit society."

Sun stayed at Chi's home last summer and has frequently commuted to Terre Haute so the two could devote the time necessary to the complex subject. Glendening has served as mentor for the team, working alongside the students well into the evening and on weekends, even on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving as the two fine tuned their presentation for national competition.

"I don't mind at all. I'd rather be here than at the mall," Glendening quipped.

"Without Dr. Glendening and Indiana State University, our project could not have gotten anywhere," Chi said.

Glendening "has just gone out of his way so many times for us," Sun added. "Without Dr. Glendening and without ISU we couldn't have done this."

Glendening jumped at the chance to help the students achieve their full potential.

"Ann and Irene are very talented students and they're up to the challenge. If we can identify students out there who need to be challenged, to get them involved in college research is really quite reasonable," he said.

Both Chi and Sun have taken college level courses but have yet to decide on careers

"I'm pretty sure I'll be going into a science and I'd really like to continue to do research throughout my career," Chi said. "I've always had this dream of working with NASA but it's not really, at least for me, a goal that I can work on. It's just something that may come by chance."

Sun's top career choices are bio-medical engineering and international relations. "They're kind of vastly different, but we'll see," she said.

While Chi and Sun clearly have a strong background in math and science and the drive to learn more, Glendening said educators must work to ensure a greater emphasis on math and science.

"We do see a fair number of students who do not have very strong math or science backgrounds," he said. "As our society becomes more advanced in terms of its technology, we need to work with our younger people, our high school students, to make sure that they do have very strong backgrounds in the sciences."

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Contact:
Eric Glendening, associate professor, chemistry,
(812) 237-2235 or ericg@carbon.indstate.edu

Writer:
Dave Taylor, ISU Public Affairs,
(812) 237-3743 or devtaylo@isugw.indstate.edu

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu