Tangents Fall 2013

A PUBLICATION OF THE ARKANSAS SCHOOL FOR MATHEMATICS, SCIENCES AND THE ARTS

FALL 2013

Meet Simpson and Wally

Director Corey Alderdice Dean of Academic Affairs Bob Gregory Dean of Students William Currier

At ASMSA, our roots may be in Arkansas, but our reach is international.

Our alumni have demonstrated the world is their stage for innovation and change. ASMSA graduates have served in the Peace Corps, been Fulbright Scholars, competed in the Olympics, conducted research in the world’s top laboratories and performed in some of the globe’s most majestic venues.

We hope to inspire this global mindset in our current students through several opportunities to engage with the broader world.

As part of the Kakehashi Project, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan along with 22 students and two other staff members this past summer. “The Bridge for Tomorrow,” as it is also known, aims to heighten potential interest in Japan and increase international understanding of Japanese history, art and culture.

In Summer 2014, more than 40 ASMSA students and seven faculty members will explore the world through our new Global Learning Program. Students were able to choose from programs that focused on art and history in Italy, culture and change in China, literature in England and Spanish language in Costa Rica.

We are providing a travel grant to each student to offset costs as well as additional need-based support in the form of partial and full scholarships. We pride ourselves on engaging classrooms, dynamic laboratories and practical research experiences. The Global Learning Program recognizes that the entire world is a space for study that can be transformative in the life of a young person.

While learning to be international travelers, we are also proud to serve as hosts for international guests who visit our campus to learn more about life and study at ASMSA. We hosted a group of 25 students and teachers for our portion of the Kakehashi Project in November. We will welcome guests from Osaska for a fourth consecutive year in April 2014.

It is important that students not only travel the world to become engaged academics but also become knowledgeable ambassadors.

Most recently, a team of educators from Thailand visited our campus as they began work to launch a residential STEM school in 2015. They were impressed with our commitment to interdisciplinary instruction, faculty who are passionate teachers and student life staff dedicated to creating a thriving community for students. Their enthusiasm is a testament to the world-class opportunities available at ASMSA. Here’s to opening our passports in addition to our textbooks.

Corey Alderdice

Director

Director of Institutional Advancement Gregory D. Reed Director of Finance JaNan Abernathy Dean of Distance Education & Information Technology Chris Robbins Board of Visitors Luther Lowe (’02), Chair Karen Garcia, Vice Chair Leigh Merry, Secretary Hayward Battle Donna Casparian Donna Hutchison Cynthia A. Miller, Ph.D. Ex-Officio Representatives Arkansas Science & Technology Authority Marta Gwyn Collier Arkansas Department of Higher Education Shane Broadway Arkansas Department of Education Mary Kathryn Stein Department of Heritage Joy Pennington ASMSA Parents Association Pamela Knapp-Carver, President ASMSA Student Government Bryan Hernandez (’14), President Tangents is published by the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, a campus of the University of Arkansas System.

For more information about ASMSA visit our website at www.asmsa.org or call 1-800-345-2767.

Editor Donnie Sewell Graphic Design Fred Zipkes

inthisissue FALL 2013

Finding the Higgs boson

Kyle Cranmer: Finding the Higgs boson Page 10

features

#ASMSA

2 A Promise Kept

12 Hard Work, Big Stage

4 Bright Idea

17 Getting Jig-gy with It

8 In Realistic 3D

20 Food for Thought

ASMSA kicks off 20th anniversary with special weekend.

Alumni shine a light on Arkansas innovation.

Instructor gains international recognition for 3D printing.

Alumna’s Grand Ole Opry dreams come true.

Luke McEntire (’14) is hooked on his favorite hobby — fishing.

Joseph Dobson (’14) is ready to share his passion for healthy eating.

Students in Documentary Filmmaking practice their drone skills for flyover shots.

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CMYK / .eps

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CMYK / .eps

/ARMathSciArts 1

A PROMISE KEPT

Alumni event kicks off 20th-anniversary celebration On Aug. 22, 1993, the first students arrived on the campus of what was initially called the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences. The 150 students who made up the Charter Class were ready to start a new adventure.

They didn’t know exactly what to expect. The faculty and staff didn’t necessarily know either. In the words of one former faculty member from those first years, they were conducting a grand experiment. No one knew at the time what the results would be.

Creating and opening the school was an almost three-year effort that was the work of many people throughout the state, including then-Gov. Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary. The idea of the school developed from a conversation Mrs. Clinton had with Dr. Ron Hart, who was head of the National Center for Toxicological Research in Pine Bluff, in fall 1990.

There were many naysayers who said such a school in Arkansas was implausible, but as Hillary Clinton told that first class of students, the Class of 1995, the naysayers were wrong.

“They told us this idea would not work in Arkansas,” said the then-first lady in a video shown at the Class of 1995’s graduation. “They told us kids would not want to leave their families, friends and schools to confront the educational and social demands that

a school such as this would pose. So often we underestimate the abilities of our people, particularly our young people.”

Twenty years later, that grand experiment is still producing amazing results. To celebrate the beginning of ASMSA’s anniversary, a special weekend was held Aug. 23-24, just more than 20 years to the day the first students arrived.

The highlight of the celebration was an Aug. 23 event held on the lawn in front of the Student Center which featured many of the people who were instrumental in the development of the plan to establish the school, the committee that chose Hot Springs as the school’s site as well as faculty, community members and students involved in the early development of the school.

The teamwork that evolved between all involved — board members, faculty, staff, students, supporters and the city — stood out to Dr. David Rainey, who served as director of the school when it opened.

“What I experienced early at the math and science school was a total team effort,” Rainey said. “I’m talking about the faculty, the students, the parents and the community working together to make sure this was not just something we were going to start but something we were going to finish.”

Dr. Beverly Lyn-Cook served on the Site Selec-

‘[ASMSA] has been such a blessing for Hot Springs. The math and science school is doing amazing things and proving that students from all over our state are capable of doing marvelous things if we get them the right educational opportunities.’

Helen Selig, former Hot Springs mayor 2

tion Committee that chose Hot Springs as host for the school as well as on the school’s first Advisory Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees. She said the board’s goal was to create a school that could educate Arkansas’ top students in the best math and science school in the nation.

“The board believed that educating Arkansas’ best and brightest would not only benefit the state of Arkansas but would benefit the nation by providing the foundation for the future scientists, engineers, mathematicians and those individuals who would go on and create new technologies,” she said.

Bryan Hernandez (’14), who is serving as president of the Student Government Association, said the school is accomplishing the goal initially set out by its founders.

“I learned the world is impossible to overcome on your own. This school is made through a team effort, and that is how it is sustained every day in the classroom. ASMSA has been more than a school for me. It has been a haven of education and a home,” he said.

Important to the success of ASMSA has been the community support from the residents and the city of Hot Springs and the surrounding region. Hot Springs was one of 52 communities that submitted proposals to have the school placed in their town.

The list was eventually trimmed to seven, and then Hot Springs was one of two finalists — along with Batesville — for the school.

Hot Springs’ proposal included purchasing the former St. Joseph’s Regional Hospital and paying to convert the building into a suitable residence hall and school building. In September 1994, Hot Springs Mayor Helen Selig presented the school with a bell in a ceremony that marked “a promise kept” to the state of Arkansas by the city. The bell reflected the city’s slogan during the selection process — “The Choice is Clear as a Bell.” Selig spoke during the August ceremony about what the school means to the city and to the state.

Skip Rutherford, the dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, was a member of the Site Selection Committee and the first Advisory Board of Directors. He praised the city of Hot Springs for its efforts in supporting the school.

“I want to say this to Hot Springs, and I say this with great gratitude — you have not only succeeded but you have exceeded, and the job and the work you have done here is a remarkable testament to education in Arkansas,” he said.

For more photos, scan the QR code or visit asmsa.me/apromisekept.

Top: Dr. Mac Madden (‘95), medical director of children’s services for Health Resources of Arkansas, speaks to a group of students about the medical field during an alumni/student meet-and-greet session. Middle: Daniel Sims (‘05) leads a discussion about the Association of Alumni and Friends of ASMSA. Sims has been one of the leaders in establishing a new organization to allow alumni and friends of ASMSA to continue involvement with the school. Bottom: Luke Tyhurst (‘15) speaks with Gaytri Patel (‘95), right, during the meetand-greet. Patel is an aerospace engineer who has worked to support flight design for several interplanetary space missions.

3

Bright Idea Alumni’s process could be a breakthrough in the solar-cell industry When Seth Shumate (’02) first saw the results of his simulation for a new approach to a silicon solar cell in February of this year, he thought something was wrong.

What he saw must have been a mistake.

So he did what any good scientist does — he ran another simulation.

“I thought the system was malfunctioning so I took it to another machine, which does a more detailed sort of test, and it was real there, too,” Shumate said with a smile growing across his face. “Then we did it again — over and over and over. It was exciting to see, but I was really skeptical.

I thought maybe one of the other grad students had turned up the lamp to give it too much simulated sunlight.”

He then went straight to his adviser’s office at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he is working on a doctorate in microelectronics-photonics, an interdisciplinary program in engineering. The program includes operational management classes in addition to traditional engineering classes.

Shumate showed a printout of the graph of his results to the person supervising him using the system. The supervisor asked him why he was smiling.

“I said, ‘That’s a million dollar graph.’ I’m pretty even tempered, but that was exciting,” Shumate said.

He had a reason to smile: the simulation showed Shumate had discovered a way to make an individual silicon solar cell 15 percent 4

Seth Shumate (‘02), left, and Douglas Hutchings (‘01)

more effective. It is the largest single-step efficiency gain in solar cells since 1974, said Douglas Hutchings (’01), chief executive officer of Silicon Solar Solutions, the company for which Shumate serves as the chief technology officer.

But what does a 15 percent increase in efficiency really mean?

Hutchings said an industrial-quality silicon solar cell that has an efficiency rating of about 20 percent, meaning that the solar cell converts about 20 percent of the solar energy it conducts into electricity, would become 23 percent efficient using Shumate’s process.

Silicon Solar Solutions oper-

ates out of a small office in the University of Arkansas’ Engineering Research Center, which is part of the College of Engineering. The building houses several engineering-related research firms and laboratories. The research center is located in the Arkansas Research and Technology Park in Fayetteville.

Hutchings, 30, developed the company while working on his doctorate on microelectronicsphotonics. College of Engineering students may also earn a graduate certificate of entrepreneurship by supplementing the engineering classes with a certain number of business classes.

Among those classes are a series of venture development courses taught by Dr. Carol Reeves, the associate vice provost for entrepreneurship and the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the Sam. M. Walton College of Business’ Department of Management. In one of the courses, students from various disciplines work as a team to come up with an idea for a company, develop a business plan and take it to business competitions with the goal of starting a real company. The company idea Hutchings and two masters of business administration students developed was based on developing a largegrain silicon solar cell that was more efficient and produced in a simpler process at a lower cost.

Hutchings’ team competed in about 16 competitions, placing in the top three in all of them and winning six outright, including the 2010 Global Venture Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The project garnered about $60,000 in prize money.

The other two students moved on to other jobs upon graduation, but Hutchings decided to stick with the company. By November 2009, Hutchings was able to raise enough seed money to get the company off the ground.

Since then, Silicon Solar Solutions has raised about $1.5 million in private equity, state support and research grants.

Hutchings couldn’t work for the company initially as he was finishing his doctoral work on a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

The fellowship requirements prevented him from having a paying job. Instead, he turned to his longtime classmate and friend — Shumate, who was finishing his master’s degree and beginning work on his doctorate.

The company licensed the technology for a large-grain polysilicon solar cell from the university. Shumate spent the summer of 2010 modifying the laboratory assigned to the company in the research center to do the work on the leased technology.

One of the company’s initial goals was to work toward meeting the Department of Energy’s 2020 goal to reduce the total cost for production of silicon solar cells to 50 cents per watt of electricity produced. Shumate said most solar cells now cost about 60 to 65 cents per watt produced. At that selling point, companies aren’t able to operate a sustainable business, so by improving the cells’ efficiency, it would allow the companies to

finished cell

grid line grid line

make a better profit, he said.

If Shumate’s process proves translatable to industrial-quality silicon solar cells, it could allow companies to meet the DOE goal.

It would also solve what Hutchings said is a $5 billion problem in a $32 billion industry where silicon-based cells make up 80 percent of the market.

The Process Shumate was reading a paper that was published in 1991 unrelated to solar cells, “Boronhydrogen complexes in crystalline silicon,” when he came across a paragraph that sparked his imagination. He said a physical process described in the paper seemed to lend itself to a perfect solar cell.

“It was a ‘eureka’ moment,” Shumate said. “I think that’s how most innovation happens.”

Shumate, 29, said the process works toward eliminating a problem solar cells have always had — making the top layer of the solar cell very conductive without limiting its efficiency. He said increasing the conductivity of the top layer usually reduces its efficiency.

In the process Shumate developed, hydrogen gas flows over a light-bulb filament, which cracks the hydrogen in two. The atomic

atomic hydrogen

ARC emitter

33 Ω/□

38 Ω/□

wafer

finished cell Finished Cell

Homogeneous Emitter

Hydrogenated Emitter

PicaSolar’s process to make solar cells more effective involves taking a completed solar cell (called a homogenous emitter in the center graphic) and exposing it to The Hydrogenated Selective Emitter (HSE) process for n-­‐type cells or graphic). bifacial p-­‐ hydrogen after it is completed (called a hydrogenated emitter in the third cells The hydrogen allows the surfacetype of the cell to operate more efficiently.

5

hydrogen goes into the top sur- Hutchings was a senior and Shu- Now the two men could be face of the solar cell changing its mate was a junior at ASMSA. Both said to be doing the same thing, electrical properties in a benefi- played on the soccer team at Hot walking in the headwaters of a Springs High School. cial way. revolution of advances in solar “We’re effectively tailoring Hutchings came to the school cell technology. the top layer of the solar cell to be from Mena, where he lived with Birth of PicaSolar as good as it can be post manu- his mother, who worked on a As with any scientific breakbreeding program for a specific facturing,” Hutchings said. through, the February 2013 sim A $10,000 system was built to bloodline of Arabian horses. They ulation wasn’t the beginning of test the theoretical benefits, and moved to Mena from England the project. The original work on the company applied for a patent. when he was 7. In high school, he the cell began in January 2012, Shumate and Hutchings also at- completed the school’s curricuwith Silicon Solar Solutions filtended several conferences where lum two years early. ing a Small Business Innovathey discussed their theories with Instead of going into college as a 16-year-old, he decided to at- tion Research grant application other experts in the field.

“They were pretty excited tend ASMSA, where several high- to help fund the project in June about it, which made us more ex- er-level math courses and other 2012. The grant was approved in cited,” Shumate said. “There was advanced classes would be avail- January 2013, and one of the resome really, really fun moments able. He looked at it as an oppor- quirements for the grant was to in that. Taking a fresh solar cell tunity for adventure and a place develop a business plan for the anticipated success of the reright out of this system you just he could transition into college. built and measuring it and seeing “It really does make the tran- search, Shumate said. this huge difference in its perfor- sition to college trivial,” he said Shumate and Hutchings decided to follow a similar route about attending ASMSA. mance, that was fun.” that led to the Hutchings establishment ‘It’s always fun when we map out the different entities said that the of Silicon Sohydrogenation we’re working with, and it’s truly kind of developed this lar Solutions in of the solar cell global network.

If we can pull it off, an Arkansas company 2009. Shumate is an important was in Reeves’ one for the suc- and an Arkansas technology could have a significant venture develcess of the proimpact on the largest segment of this whole industry.’ opment course cess.

Douglas Hutchings (‘01) as part of his “We wanted a doctoral work. process that was Even before he had concrete evias plug-and-play as possible in the Shumate was attending Condence from the lab that the prosemiconductor industry,” Hutch- way High School when he decided cess would work, he took the idea ings said. “This technology fits re- to apply for ASMSA. He said his to class and formed a team with ally well into that. It’s a single step family lived outside of the city and Hutchings serving as a mentor to that happens at the very end of the he was often bored at home. Once manufacturing line, so there’s as at ASMSA, he didn’t limit him- the group. self to just math and science. He “The idea was to a point where little disruption as possible.”

Now the challenge is to take took advantage of the literature having a business plan around it the success of the lab-scale solar and language classes that were was a good idea,” Shumate said. cell and translate it to a full-size offered as well as computer pro- “That is a very intensive process solar cell that can be produced at gramming, which wasn’t offered — writing a 30-some-odd-page 4,000 units per hour in a manu- at Conway at the time. He always business plan with the complexitook more classes than required, ties of does this business plan facturing plant, Hutchings said. he said. make sense, is it viable as a busiAfter graduating from ASMSA, ness? So this was a great opporLongtime friendship It is evident that Hutchings both Hutchings and Shumate at- tunity to go through the process and Shumate are more than busi- tended Hendrix College in Con- with people who have business ness partners — they are close way. During their time at the backgrounds.” friends. They often feed off each school, they took a road trip to The group did very well in other’s response and throw out Minnesota together to visit the competitions, winning more than asides that makes the other headwaters of the Mississippi $300,000 in prize money that is laugh. They mention that they River. benefitting the company’s develeach served as best man for the “We were walking around in it. opment. That total includes winother during their respective It was only about three-feet wide ning this spring’s MIT NSTAR and about a foot deep,” Shumate Clean Energy Prize, which inweddings.

They met in 2000 when said. cluded $150,000 cash award.

6

The company was also awarded a $100,000 prize from the Department of Energy. It was the University of Arkansas’ biggest win cash-wise in a graduate business competition since the university began fielding teams a decade ago.

In April, PicaSolar also won the 2013 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup, the state’s top collegiate business-plan competition. Silicon Solar Solutions won third place in the competition in 2010.

PicaSolar’s success has led to a change in how Silicon Solar Solutions operates. Hutchings said it makes sense organizationally to have PicaSolar stand on its own since the technology the company is working on was developed independently from the initial work Silicon Solar Solutions did using the universitylicensed technology.

Silicon Solar Solutions has morphed into an incubator of technologies that can then be spun out into separate companies.

“We can leverage government funding to get them to this point and then they can become a separate entity and (we) push them the rest of the way,” Hutchings said.

“Success begets success in that if we successfully commercialize any one of the technologies that makes it easier for the next one.”

Reaction has been positive throughout the solar cell industry, both men said, allowing PicaSolar to develop a network of industry and research experts.

Some companies have sent PicaSolar their industrial-sized cells on which to test Shumate’s process.

Overcoming the view that it would be unusual for such a technological advance to be developed in Arkansas has been a challenge at times.

“In a lot of the competitions, the judges, the first thing they would ask is why didn’t someone else do this before, someone else meaning someone that’s not from Arkansas,” Shumate said.

Thea Foundation Founder Speaks at ASMSA

“Don’t let them take away the music that you’re made of.”

Paul Leopoulos, cofounder and executive director of the Thea Foundation, offered that advice to the students of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts during an assembly at the school on Oct. 23.

“Be who you are. Gravitate toward the things you love. Don’t let anybody influence you from doing something you that you are really passionate about. Even if you think you want to do something, try it. If it’s something in the arts, go for it,” Leopoulos said.

The Thea Foundation, based in North Little Rock, focuses on providing art-based learning and scholarship opportunities for Arkansas students.

Leopoulos focused on the role that visual and performance art can play in the education of young people. He said it doesn’t matter whether a student wants to become an artist, but rather what they can learn from the arts and how it can inspire their lives.

He used his own daughter, Thea, as an example. Her grade point average was low, and she was mostly a C student. She often wasn’t very excited about going to school.

At the end of her sophomore year, she presented her parents with schedule that was arts heavy — an art class, a drawing class, a dance class and a competitive speech class. Also on her schedule was a trigonometry class. Leopoulos said Thea didn’t have a good track record with math, receiving C’s and D’s in previous classes, and he didn’t think she could do trigonometry. She made a deal with her parents that it would be her last math or science course.

During that year, Thea went through a transformation. In her drawing class, she finger painted a portrait of B.B. King that her teacher put on the wall in an area reserved for the best art. That day led to a transformation in Thea, he said.

About midway through the first semester of her junior year, Leopoulos and his wife could see the changes in Thea. She was excited about going to school, and her grades drastically improved. Then tragedy struck on May 28, 2001 — Memorial Day — when a drunk driver hit Thea’s vehicle on an interstate. She did not survive.

The next day, Thea’s trigonometry teacher called Leopoulos to let him know that Thea had earned an A in trigonometry. Thea’s principal later told them that she had all A’s and B’s, after not having more than one B at a time on her previous report cards. She had also signed up for calculus and physics for her senior year.

Her transformation led the Leopouloses to start the Thea Foundation, which supports arts education in K-12 schools throughout Arkansas. The foundation also offers scholarships to seniors in visual arts, performing arts, film, fashion design, creative writing and spoken word.

To learn more about the Thea Foundation, visit theafoundation.org. To view a video of Leopoulos’ presentation and the students’ performance, visit ASMSA’s Vimeo channel at vimeo.com/ armathsciarts.

7

IN REALISTIC 3D

Instructor’s printer gains international notice own parts as possible and not rely on Nick Seward has big dreams for linear rails or bearings, which most the future of 3D printers — such 3D printers use while limiting their as constructing houses for a printing range. fraction of today’s cost using a His design used a pulley system and giant printer loaded on trucks.

three arms to direct the printer head.

Most dreams start somewhere The design allowed for a greater small. For Seward, a computer range of motion and thus a larger science instructor at ASMSA, it printing area. The first iteration was was printing squirrels with the 3D built with wood for the arms. printer he received from his wife for his Seward shared his designs with birthday in March. He also printed owls the RepRap online community and and puzzles, but he felt a little guilty that he received immediate interest in his wasn’t putting the printer to a more “practical” SIMPSON project. RepRap is the name of the first use. self-replicating manufacturing machine In April, Seward decided to try his hand built in the form of a 3D printer. Many people who at designing a 3D printer. He wanted the printer participate in the forums use them to share opento be inexpensive, be able to print as many of its 8

WALLY

source work and receive feedback.

Seward said that is part of the beauty of the open-source community — there is always someone with an idea that may work better than your original concept. Feedback from the online community led to several design changes in Seward’s project.

“Without the online community support, this thing wouldn’t have existed,” Seward said. “The forums are filled with a bunch of geeks. Once they see a problem, they can’t leave it alone. I could say I’m trying to do this and have feedback on whether it would work.”

Within a month of starting the project, Seward had a working prototype called Simpson, named after George Gaylord Simpson, who introduced the idea of quantum evolution. The theory states that evolution can happen in abrupt bursts, not necessarily over a long period of time. Naming the printer after Simpson signifies that the printer is a sudden divergence (idea to first print in one month) from other existing designs.

Early versions of Simpson cost around $390 to produce, compared to the $1,300 retail price for many 3D printers. As the design has changed, Simpson has required fewer laser cut and machined parts, making it more cost efficient. Seward’s goal isn’t to make a fortune off the printer but to make modest royalties off the design and some parts. He doesn’t plan on filing any patents for the printer.

“It’s a whole new way of thinking,” Seward said. “The more people [who] are involved and are passionate about something, I think you’re going to do better. If you’re worried about the payday, it can

To see Simpson and Wally win action, visit asmsa.me/simpsonandwally or scan the QR code below. You can learn more about Simpson at reprap.org/wiki/Simpson.

Read an article about Seward and Simpson by TechCrunch at asmsa.me/sewardprinter2.

make it rough.”

Being developed in an open-source community doesn’t mean others can reproduce the printer for their own financial gain, however, Seward said.

“If people start making these printers and they don’t want to get blackballed by the open-source community, they are going to be sending royalties to us. That’s the standard operating procedure right now. It might not be much, but it’ll definitely make it fun and keep us engaged,” he said.

Simpson caught the attention of more than just those on the RepRap forums. In May, Seward entered Simpson into the Gada Uplift Personal Manufacturing Prize competition, which awarded $20,000 to a project that best demonstrated solutions to the automated assembly problems many 3D printers have. The goal of the competition was to encourage the creation of 3D printers that could create more of their own parts and be assembled reasonably quickly in an effort to uplift people around the world to be more independent.

Simpson won second place in the competition, but Seward said the judges informed him the decision was very hard and they had to take more time to consider his creation. The RepRap Morgan, created by Quentin Harley of South Africa, won the award. Morgan was one of Seward’s inspirations for Simpson.

In June, TechCrunch, a national technology blog, featured a story on Simpson as have several other tech websites. In October, Seward took Simpson to the New York Maker Faire, an event that showcases See In

3D, Page 16 9

Finding the Higgs Boson Alumnus plays integral part in scientific search Imagine standing in front of a haystack so large that you can tell neither where it begins nor where it ends. It is so vast that it will take you decades to search for a needle that has been placed in the haystack. So far, the search for the needle has lasted almost 50 years. By the way, the needle may not even exist. No one is sure — at least not yet.

That may be the closest many of us can come to understanding how the search for the Higgs boson proceeded since it was first theorized that the particle existed in 1964. That was the year that three teams of six physicists theorized that a particle existed that would help matter gain mass.

The Higgs field and the Higgs boson are named after one of those men, British theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.

On July 4, 2012, two teams of physicists announced they had likely found the proverbial needle in a haystack.

The A Toroidal LHC Apparatus 10

(ATLAS) collaboration and the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration announced that, in separate experiments, they had discovered a particle that acted the way a Higgs boson should act. By March 2013, the teams confirmed that it was indeed the Higgs boson they had discovered.

The confirmation of the Higgs boson’s existence was crucial to

the awarding of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics to Higgs and Francois Englert, one of the six physicists who originally theorized about the Higgs boson’s existence.

The Oct. 8 announcement was one celebrated by thousands of physicists and other scientists around the world.

One of those scientists was Dr. Kyle Cranmer (’95), an assistant professor of physics at New York University who has worked on the search for the Higgs boson since 1999.

Cranmer was one of almost 3,000 people working as part of the ATLAS collaboration, but his team served a very specific and important role in the Higgs boson discovery — analyzing data from tests at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, Switzerland.

“The data is, like, the biggest data set in the history of science — millions of gigabytes of data,” Cranmer said. “There were teams all over the world going through

this data looking for signs of this particle.”

Cranmer said the particle is not stable and decays almost immediately upon its formation and can decay in several ways.

That challenge required individual teams to focus on specific ways that the particle could decay.

Cranmer’s team would bring all of that data back together.

“It’s kind of like taking a pie and cutting it into a bunch of pieces, and my role was taking all those pieces of the pie and trying to coordinate it so that we could assemble it back together in one cohesive whole.

The main thing I was doing at the end was overseeing bringing the different parts back together,” he said.

In December 2011, both ATLAS and CMS gave an update on their individual experiments. There was some evidence at that time that the Higgs boson may actually exist, but there wasn’t enough to confirm it, Cranmer said. The experiment soon shut down for the winter, but was turned on again in early 2012.

It took several months to gather more data.

While analyzing the data, a member of Cranmer’s team at ATLAS noticed information revealing a particle that acted in the same manner that a Higgs boson was expected to act. It just happened to be his birthday — June 25.

“It was a great birthday present,” he said with a laugh.

By July 4, both ATLAS and CMS were ready to announce they were fairly confident that they had discovered a Higgs boson-like particle, and in March 2013, both experiments were able to confirm it was indeed a Higgs boson.

Worth every penny Now the focus of the research is to explore what the particle can and can’t do. Cranmer said the two experimental collaborations are creating thousands of Higgs bosons to study how they decay, what matter are they affecting and so forth.

“It gives us a very powerful

test of our theories, and in some sense, we’re always hoping to see something unexpected. We hope to see our theories break because that gives us hints about the next step. At this point, the experiment is showing us the way forward,” he said.

He said there are lots of mysteries that must be solved, such as dark energy and dark matter, which makes up about a quarter of the mass of the universe. Studying the Higgs boson may help lead to those answers.

Cranmer said everyone who pays taxes essentially plays a part in the success of finding those answers.

He said people are often confused about whether the projects are privately or publicly funded. The research that led to the Higgs boson discovery was all publicly funded.

“For every thousand dollars in taxes that you pay, about 20 cents went to this kind of research,” Cranmer said. “I would consider that a fairly small fraction of money going to something that is tremendously profound. It’s the kind of thing that will go into our textbooks.

“It’s a great part of being human and understanding the world around us. I hope that people appreciate that this kind of science wouldn’t happen without public funding. On a scale of what we pay in taxes, I think it’s a very worthwhile contribution.”

Longtime researcher It was during Cranmer’s undergraduate studies at Rice University that he first became involved with research related to the Higgs boson. He focused on particle physics, and upon graduating in 1999, he made his first trip to CERN to work in a lab that was searching for the Higgs boson.

That was before the Large Hadron Collider had been built.

Civil engineering work on the collider had begun, and large caverns the size of an 11-story building underground were

being constructed. He said it was impressive to watch the cranes and big earth-moving machines work.

He went on to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he earned his master’s and doctorate degrees.

The search for the Higgs boson became his primary focus during that time.

In 2007, he joined the faculty at New York University and became part of its team working on the ATLAS project. It was that same year that President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering for his contributions to the search for the Higgs boson.

The award is intended to recognize scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership in exploring scientific frontiers.

Cranmer said he developed an interest in research early in his career at ASMSA. “I liked these kinds of fundamental questions. I was very fascinated with the universe,” he said.

Nobel Prize day Cranmer woke up early on the morning of Oct. 8, somewhere around 4, and couldn’t fall back asleep.

The Nobel Prize announcement was expected at 5 a.m. Eastern, and he said it was highly anticipated that the prize would go to someone involved with the Higgs boson. Cranmer logged onto the Nobel Prize site to watch the announcement.

The announcement was delayed about an hour as the Nobel organization made sure the winners were notified beforehand.

By that time, Cranmer’s 6-year-old son Reed woke up.

Cranmer said Reed knew he worked on the Higgs boson, and Reed started watching the announcement as well. That resonated with Cranmer more than the award.

“It was pretty nice that he knew that I was involved in it and seemed interested in it. I just enjoyed the moment,” he said.

11

Hard Work, Big Stage ASMSA alumna performs at Grand Ole Opry

12

‘[ASMSA] was just a really fresh, creative community of kids who were interested in everything.’

Erin Enderlin When Erin Enderlin (’00) recently performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, she took some of what she learned at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts on stage with her.

Enderlin credits attending ASMSA as part of the reason she is finding success in her country music career. Enderlin’s Sept. 6 performance was her first appearance on the historic Tennessee stage.

“I really treasure it. I think it led to a lot of where I am today because it made me more independent. It made me think on a higher level,” the Conway native said about attending ASMSA. It taught me a lot of ways of dealing with life and how to get where you want to be and what you want in maybe some more outside-of-the-box ways.”

She describes her time in the famed circle of the Grand Ole Opry stage in much the same way. Just as attending ASMSA was an early dream of hers that was accomplished through dedication and work, so was performing at the Grand Ole Opry.

“It was absolutely incredible,” Enderlin said about her Opry performance. “It was kind of weird because it was almost surreal after imagining what it would be like for so long. It just kind of felt like there was electricity in the air. It kind of felt like coming home in a way.”

Enderlin, 31, grew up loving music. She describes her own music as narrative country, telling stories about characters and using acoustic elements. She said her biggest influences are Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Matraca Berg. She grew up listening to many of the artists on the records at the home of her grandparents, H.D. and Wanda Clinton.

Enderlin’s grandmother, who is 83 and lives in Hot Springs, surprised her at the Opry appearance.

“She had told me she wasn’t going to be able to come because she wasn’t feeling up to the drive, and she surprised me. So that was really amaz-

ing because she and my grandpa were the reason I started listening to country music and fell in love with it,” she said.

Enderlin’s love of music developed early. She started taking piano lessons when she was 5, started writing songs when she was 10 and began guitar lessons when she was 13. She continued practicing her songwriting while taking the American Folk Music and Acoustics class at ASMSA. Enderlin would play her songs for classmates.

She said she had other great experiences at ASMSA, such as playing at the school’s coffeehouse shows; DolphinStock, a student concert held each spring; and in groups of students who would get together to play music.

“It was just a really fresh, creative community of kids who were interested in everything,” she said.

Enderlin said she is “naturally a little shy, but music is, like, the perfect ice breaker. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories.” She has used that to her advantage both at ASMSA and in her career. After her Opry appearance, she held an albumsigning event at The Opry Shop, the Opry’s store.

“I got to meet three people in line from Argentina. You meet people from all over the world and get to share a little bit of their story. That’s one of my favorite parts of playing music,” she said.

She was able to overcome any shyness backstage when she met Opry legend Little Jimmy Dickens before her set. Dickens signed her guitar, a Gibson J-200 which she named “Jimmy.” On her Facebook profile, Enderlin shared a photo of herself with Dickens and “Whispering” Bill Anderson, with whom she also recorded a Christmas track.

On the road with Willie Her Opry appearance wasn’t the first time Enderlin had the opportunity to meet a country legend. In 2011, she had the opportunity to tour with one of her 13

idols — Willie Nelson.

“I love Willie. One of my very first records was the Willie and Waylon (Jennings) duet record,” she said. “It was really one of those amazing full-circle moments. I had been listening to him since I was 3 to 4 years old. Now I have a tour poster with my name on there with his.”

Endlerlin said it’s Nelson’s songwriting style that keeps his music relevant today.

“His music is just so classic that it doesn’t matter if it’s 40 years ago or today, people can still fall in love with it and identify with it, because it’s that good. It’s something that makes you want to be at the top of your game as an artist,” she said.

Jamey Johnson was also on that tour, and he co-produced Enderlin’s first record, a self-titled album. She recently released her second album, “I Let Her Talk.”

Her Opry performance included the album’s title track and a second song from the album, “Finding My Voice.”

Early recognition Enderlin’s first national recognition came in 2004. Alan Jackson recorded a song she co-wrote with songwriter Brent Baxter titled “Monday Morning Church.”

The song peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles and Tracks that year.

“It was kind of surreal,” she said of hearing her song on the radio.

“Even when I hear it on the radio, it’s a little bit like I’m dreaming.

It’s always an honor [for someone to record one of her songs], especially someone like Alan, who writes so many of his own songs.

For him to choose a song I wrote over something he wrote to put on his record is really humbling.”

After graduating from ASMSA, Enderlin attended Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where she majored in recording industry with minors in 14

To learn more about Erin Enderlin, visit www.erinenderlin.com and follow her on Twitter @erinenderlin. Find ARMathSciArts on Spotify to listen to a playlist of songs by Enderlin, including songs from her self-titled EP and tracks by other country artists, including Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan, Lee Ann Womack and Randy Travis. To find us, type spotify:user:armathsciarts in the search box and click “Follow.”

mass communication and entrepreneurship. She graduated with honors in 2004, the same year Jackson cut “Monday Morning Church.”

Hard work Almost a decade into her professional music career, Enderlin said her Opry performance was an opportunity that was the result of a lot of hard work. It’s the same kind of hard work that helped her achieve another dream she had as a seventh-grader — to attend ASMSA. “I definitely think [attending the school] prepared me for the music business. I had the dream since I was in seventh grade of going to [ASMSA], and I was able to see that through and graduate. That instilled in me the real knowledge that sometimes if you want to do something big it takes a lot of work and a lot of time. It’s not something that happens overnight, but it can be accomplished,” she said.

After her Opry performance, Enderlin moved on to her next challenge — getting a video made

for “I Let Her Talk,” the title single of the album. She conducted a Kickstarter campaign to fund the video and began filming it in October. Kickstarter is a website that allows individuals and groups to set a fundraising goal for a project. It is commonly called crowdsourcing. Various levels of donations are set, with each level having a unique reward.

As for the Opry, she hopes she gets to go back. The Opry Shop kept some of her CDs to sell after her album signing, so she hopes that’s a good sign she may get to perform there again, but if not, she knows she can look back at her first time and realize she had a dream come true.

“That’s been my dream since I was a little girl. I guess it’s kind of trite sounding because everybody says that, but really to stand in that circle and think about everybody who’s played there, it’s really amazing to be a part of that story and a part of that history.”

STUDENT NEWS Alumna Places 2nd in National Beta Club Competition Casey Gibson (’13) won second place in the Acrylic Painting category at the National Beta Club Convention in Mobile, Ala., in June. Gibson earned the opportunity to compete at the national convention after winning first place in the state competition.

Gibson was given two hours to draw a still life that featured a photo on a tray, flowers and a printed tablecloth during the national competition. Gibson said she used her usual style, trying to paint what she sees while emphasizing details with bolder colors.

Gibson gave Anne Greenwood, the ASMSA Humanities Department chair and Gibson’s art teacher, credit for helping her break out of her comfort zone and use different techniques in her artwork.

Students Receive Scholar Recognition Nine ASMSA students were named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in the 59th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The students who were named semifinalists are Simon Boerwinkle (’14) of El Dorado, Russell Bryan (’14) of Conway, Jessica Cloos (’14) of Marion, Jesse Dai (’14) of Magnolia, Yeongwoo Hwang of Jonesboro, Tara Moses (’14) of Arkadelphia, William Shattuck (’14) of Mammoth Spring, Zaria Sumler (’14) of Poplar Grove and Claire Turkal (’14) of Hot Springs Village.

Kyle Hooks (’14) of Bentonville and Sumler have been named 2014 National Achievement Scholarship Program Semifinalists. The program recognizes outstanding black American high school students.

Of the more than 160,000 students who enter the National Achievement Program each year, about 1,600 participants are designated as semifinalists.

The program is supported by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

Bryan Hernandez (’14) of Clinton was named a National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar.

The program was established in 1983 by the College Board to identify outstanding Hispanic/Latino high school students and share information about them with interested colleges and universities.

Each year, the program honors about 5,000 of the highest-scoring Hispanic/Latino juniors who take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Senior Recognized at Conference Kevin Fialkowski (’14) won second place in the Technology Concepts event at the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in June.

The Technology Concepts competition included an exam that tested Fialkowski’s technical knowledge, his ability to troubleshoot hardware and software issues, networking and telecommunication fundamentals.

Fialkowski of Heber Springs also achieved two Microsoft Office Specialist certifications during the conference. He earned Microsoft Office Specialist certification in PowerPoint 2010 and expert-level Specialist in Word 2010.

15

STEM Education Center Director Joins ASMSA Board of Visitors Gov. Mike Beebe has appointed Dr. Cynthia Ann Miller of Jonesboro as the newest member of the ASMSA Board of Visitors.

Miller is the director of the Delta STEM Education Center at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City.

Miller, 62, said she welcomes the opportunity to serve on the board of the residential public high school, which she considers “the perfect place to educate the brightest of Arkansas students. I would love to feel like I had an influence on that.”

She said the combination of the instructors, the facilities and the students who are selected from all over Arkansas “provide a perfect storm of learning.” Miller said she learned that idea through the experience of her daughter who graduated from ASMSA in May as a member of the Class of 2013.

“I watched that happen with my daughter, and it’s a delight to watch that with other students,” she said.

Having a child who graduated with from the school gives her a different insight to the institution, Miller said.

“I’ve heard the good and the bad and the stressful and the exhilarating from my daughter’s viewpoint and from a parent’s viewpoint,” she said.

“Anytime I have a question, I could call Casey (Gibson, her daughter) and say ‘Casey, what do you think about this?’ So it’s almost like you’re getting two for the price of one.”

The Delta STEM Education Center is one of 12 centers around the state that works toward enriching the knowledge and teaching practices of teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Miller has served as the director for the Delta Center since 2005.

Prior to that, she served as an Arkansas Department of Education Secondary Math Specialist for the center and a math professor for Arkansas State. She began her teaching career in 1972 in a Georgia public school.

Miller’s appointment to the ASMSA board will expire Jan. 14, 2020.

16

In 3D

Continued from Page 9

new technologies. Seward set Simpson up in the 3D printer village along with Morgan and another RepRap printer he has been helping develop — Wally, which could be assembled to attach to a wall and offer a large printing range.

All three printers were a hit, Seward said, and the demand for Simpson and Wally was high. He received requests for 20 beta kits of Simpson and Wally that will be sent around the world — including South Africa, Russia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and others. The testers will build the kits and give Seward feedback. Successful builds will hopefully lead to more demand, he said.

To meet the demand for the printers, he has started a company called ConceptFORGE. He wants the company to serve as an incubator for new projects and to server as a collaborator on larger projects. The company would also serve as a distributor for the parts needed for the various printers.

The company could also develop a print farm where people could place orders for items they need or want to be printed. People would be able to custom order parts or printers.

Seward said he is hoping to use a Kickstarter campaign to raise at least $100,000 to get the company off the ground.

He said he wants to do exciting things with the company. While Simpson and Wally are being used for small items right now, Seward said he doesn’t envision them serving in a desktop publishing role. Instead he does see 3D printers having a bigger purpose.

Seward wants to lead the search for the bigger purpose, whether it’s with Simpson and Wally or with some other venture.

“My driving goal most of my life has been I want to provide some meaningful impact on this world. I want to have a positive impact. I feel like I’m actually doing it now,” Seward said.

Student use Besides sending off 20 beta kits around the world, Seward also brought one Simpson and Wally for use at ASMSA. He also has included a more traditional 3D printer he had purchased to create a mini print farm on campus. Students may go to a website created by one of the students to order a 3D printing.

For now most of the items being printed are trinkets, but Seward said he could see the printers being used for practical purposes such as items for FIRM projects. At the present time, items are being printed for free, he said.

JD

Getting

ig-gy

J

with It

igging through what resembled a gray duffle bag filled with plastic boxes and bags holding fishing gear, Luke McEntire (’14) searched for his favorite lures and baits.

Each plastic container holds at least 10 lures in individual spaces, and there were at least five or six containers stacked side-by-side in the bag. From the side and front pockets, McEntire pulled more gear.

There must be at least 70 different baits and lures stored in the bag. He can rattle off details about each one — when and where they should be used, the best way to use them and stories on what he caught using a certain bait.

Luke McEntire ('14) is an avid fisherman, often spending weekends on area lakes hunting for a hot spot of bass.

17

‘I hated it when we first started. My parents always tried to get me to fish. I started going with them a lot and eventually fell in love with it. Now it’s my favorite weekend hobby — or everyday hobby.'

There’s more than enough, one would think, to allow McEntire to catch that notorious “big one” all fishermen talk about. After all, his bag appears to be big enough to house at least two or more of the oldfashioned metal tackle boxes.

“This is my day bag,” McEntire said as he continued his search. “This is just what I take out for a fun day of fishing with friends. I have a lot more that I take out in tournaments.”

Participating in fishing tournaments is one of McEntire’s passions. He spends many weekends on a lake somewhere in Arkansas searching for bass. He serves as president of the Waldron Waterdogs, a high school fishing club he helped organize in his hometown of Waldron that is open to any youth in Scott County.

This past summer, he and his fishing partner, Jimmy Maxell, competed in the 2013 High School World Finals, sponsored by The Bass Federation (TBF) Student Angler Association. The four-day tournament was held July 16-19 on Lake Dardanelle near Russellville and featured more than 130 teams from around the nation competing for the world title. McEntire and Maxell earned their way into the tournament by finishing their home club’s season on top of the individual standings.

After the first day, McEntire and Maxell were in 54th place with a total weight of 9 pounds, 7 ounces on four fish. A team can bring five fish to the weigh-in — that is if they can catch the limit. By the end of the first day, the Waterdogs had learned a few things about the lake, allowing them to nearly pull in the limit.

On the second day, the Waterdogs started out quick, pulling in a fish within the first 10 minutes of 18

fishing. They pulled in their two biggest fish close together late morning before moving on to another spot and adding two more fish to the live tank of their boat. The Waterdogs finished the day with a weight of 10 pounds, 14 ounces, good enough to move them up to No. 30.

Their performance on the second day gave McEntire and Maxell hope that they could take the momentum into the third day and qualify for the fourth day of fishing. The top 21 teams would make it into the final day, where all the previous results would be wiped clean and whichever team had the best one-day weigh-in would win the world title.

But it soon became evident that it just wasn’t their day. The Waterdogs pulled six or seven fish into the boat but didn’t keep any of them. All of the fish failed to meet the strict length requirement that would qualify them to be kept — 15 inches minimum for largemouth bass and 12 inches minimum for spotted bass. Even if the fish lengths were off by as much as a centimeter, it would have cost the team a pound off their weight total.

McEntire said it was tough sitting there that day on the boat, knowing his team had an opportunity to advance but unable to catch the fish they needed.

“All we had to have was 10 pounds and we would have made it into the finals,” McEntire said. “We just missed.

“The first couple of hours I was an optimist. I kept saying all it takes is five casts. About lunchtime, when we had three to four hours left, I started to get scared.

We wanted to put five fish in the boat. Dardanelle is a place you can put out five casts and pull out five gi-

ants. The last couple of hours, we knew we had to get lucky or go home.”

It was only the third time McEntire had fished the lake, including the 2012 High School World Finals.

He is not fond of it, to say the least, although he said he hated the lake after last year’s tournament, he now feels better about it, calling it a learning opportunity.

McEntire didn’t let his team’s finish in the World Finals dampen his desire to fish, however. The night after the World Finals wrapped up, he fished a night tournament, where he finished third in the standings as the only one-person team against a field of twoperson teams.

Getting hooked For McEntire, a day out on the lake fishing for bass is about as perfect of a day as he can imagine, but that wasn’t always the case. When his parents, mother Ann McEntire and stepfather Bobby Helms, first took him fishing about three and a half years ago, McEntire didn’t like it.

“I hated it when we first started. My parents always tried to get me to fish. I started going with them a lot and eventually fell in love with it. Now it’s my favorite weekend hobby — or everyday hobby,” he said with a big smile.

McEntire soon started going fishing more as his friends began participating in the sport as well. He soon began participating in tournaments, fishing against “60-year-old-men who had been fishing all their lives.”

He wasn’t very competitive against the experienced anglers in those tourneys and began searching for a way where he could be competitive and have fun as well. That’s when he decided to start the Waldron Waterdogs club, which holds several tournaments a year, including on Lake Hinkle in Waldron.

He also found a mentor in Tim Maxell, Jimmy’s father. “He basically showed me the ropes. He taught me just about everything I know about jig fishing, which is where all my biggest fish came from. He took me under his wing and showed me everything,” McEntire said of his mentor.

McEntire hopes to take continue his amateur fishing career in college, where there are tournaments similar to the high school competition. He plans to major in pre-med, hopefully at Hendrix College in Conway, his first choice, or at the University of Tulsa.

Neither of those schools have a fishing team now, but that’s something he’s willing to work on once he’s enrolled at the school.

But don’t expect to see McEntire going pro in fishing once his high school and possible college eligibility expires. “It’s a hobby. Sometimes it feels like a job even now. I love it, but four days straight in 110 degree weather is rough,” he said.

A PARENT’S VIEW

Let’s Reveal the Secret of ASMSA

On my first visit to ASMSA, I remember hearing the statement, “ASMSA is the best kept secret in Arkansas.”

Honestly, I didn’t think too much about it then, but as I’ve heard the statement more often, it has become evident that ASMSA should not be a secret. It is a school that presents wonderful opportunities for students like no other school in the state. It should not be a secret kept by only a few but a school that students throughout Arkansas are clamoring to get into.

The ASMSA Parents Association can be a catalyst to make that happen. The voice of the parents can be the driving force to increase application numbers. Director Corey Alderdice challenged us during one of the Association’s online chats this year to do just that, encouraging each parent to recruit five new applicants.

Therefore I put this challenge out to all ASMSA parents: Tell your story. Talk about the opportunities your child has had since becoming a student at ASMSA. Explain the rigor of the classes and the college credit students accumulate. Share how much your child enjoys school.

Students, I am sure you are already ahead of us in this task, but if not, tell your story! The same goes for our alumni.

In May, the Class of 2014 will walk onto the stage, receive their diplomas, go on to complete their education and become contributing adults to this world we live in. As a parent of one of those seniors, I want to be an ambassador for the school.

ASMSA may be a secret now, but not for long with your efforts. It’s time to reveal the secret of ASMSA! Pamela Knapp-Carver is the president of the ASMSA Parents Association for 2013-14. Her son, Christopher, is a member of the Class of 2014.

19

Food for Thought

Senior to share passion for healthy eating through festival Growing up, Joseph Dobson (’14) wasn’t a particularly healthy eater.

It’s not that he didn’t have healthy options from which to choose, but he was a “selective” eater, often ignoring the vegetables on his plate. As a young child, he was very small, but by the end of elementary and middle school, he gained a lot of weight.

“I wasn’t obese, but I was overweight,” he said.

Over the past three to four years, Dobson said he changed his eating habits, becoming a healthy eater and learning how it affects a person’s physical and mental well-being. Dobson said eating healthy changes how a person’s brain functions in addition to many 20

different parts of their life.

He began to make a change in ninth grade when a physical education instructor introduced him and his classmates to a way to live a healthier lifestyle through better eating and exercise. The instructor also became Dobson’s personal trainer.

Not only did Dobson’s physical body transform but his mentality did as well. He said he now has a clearer picture of his life and can feel the physical and mental effects of unhealthy food on him.

“Now if I eat something fried, I can feel it in my body. It slows me down. It gives me a sluggish feeling in my brain, while if I take a salad, it upstarts my life. It’s easier for

me to concentrate when I’m eating healthy,” he said.

In the spring, Dobson will be sharing what he has learned about healthy eating with his classmates and the Hot Springs community.

Know your food Dobson attended the Aspen Ideas Festival through the Bezos Scholars Program @ the Aspen Institute in late June. The festival brought some of the most interesting thinkers and leaders from around the world together to discuss their work, what issues inspire them and their ideas.

Dobson was one of 12 Bezos Scholars selected nationwide to participate in the program, which

To learn more about the Bezos Scholars Program, visit asmsa.me/bezosscholars. To learn more about the Aspen Ideas Festival, visit asmsa.me/ aspenideas. To view a video introduction of all of the 2013 Bezos Scholars, including Joseph Dobson, visit asmsa.me/bezosdobson or scan the QR code. included sessions at the festival as well as special sessions just for the scholars. ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice also attended festival as one of 12 educators selected for the program.

While there, the Scholars attended seminars, tutorials, lectures and debates with many of the festival’s speakers and shared meals and Scholars-only roundtable discussions with special guests.

“It’s really enlightening and kind of amazing to experience the ideas and knowledge of other individuals [have about] things you wouldn’t really think about, like how architecture and classroom design affect learning — whether people feel safe or not and how that can increase learning potential and abilities — and other out-there ideas that mean something and can make a difference,” he said.

During the weeklong program, each Scholar was encouraged to share their passions — the topics that inspire them to do or want to do better. Each scholar is encouraged to go home and share that passion with others, while taking an active role in educating their communities about it.

Now Dobson wants to share his passion — healthy eating — in several ways, including hosting a local Ideas Festival inspired by the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.

The festival, called Food for Thought, will be held in April in Hot Springs.

He said the main goal of the festival is to educate students and community members on how easy it can be to eat a healthy diet. One of the ways he plans on doing that is providing a space on campus for students to start a community garden.

“As students sit here in a fully residential environment with all three meals cooked for them each day, they’re kind of distanced from food preparation and where food comes from,” he said.

Unexpected opportunities When Dobson first applied for the Bezos Scholars program, he thought the odds were small that he would receive one of the 12 invitations. He found each stage of the application process — from being selected as one of two ASMSA applicants to the final interviews — exciting and unexpected.

The invitation announcement was to take place on a Friday. The day before, Dobson received a phone call from a number from a number in Seattle, Wash., the city where the Bezos Family Foundation that sponsors the Scholars is located. Dobson said he thought the call was likely to let him know he hadn’t been selected.

He said he was initially speechless and then started jumping and shaking, giving a friend who was passing by in the hallway an enthusiastic hug.

Once he arrived in Aspen, Dobson took advantage of every opportunity. He described the program as a “shotgun house,” a late 19th century and early 20th century construction where the rooms naturally lead from one room to the next. Each session led to another unexpected opportunity for Dobson.

At one lunch, he was tasked with introducing political commentator, columnist and blogger Arianna Huffington. That encounter led him to be invited to become a blogger for The Huffington Post.

Photos courtesy of the Bezos Family Foundation

Joseph Dobson (‘14), left, introduces political commentator Arianna Huffington during a Bezos Scholars Program lunch at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Dobson now blogs for her website, The Huffington Post.

At a session about design, he met noted designer Fred Dust of the international design firm IDEO. The firm has locations all over the world and focuses on many areas of design, such as software engineering, industrial design and communication design. Dust has worked with organizations such as Nike, Stanford University, the Mayo Clinic and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dobson is interested in going to school for communication design, and Dust is helping him with the college application process. Dust helped arrange meetings with a design school in New York.

The opportunity to be a Bezos Scholar has turned out to be much more than Dobson initially expected. He said he assumed that the trip to Colorado would be a more isolated experience — attend the Aspen Ideas Festival and then host a local festival and that would be the extent of the experience.

That has been far from the truth.

“It’s ended up influencing a lot of other parts of my life — as I’ve started applying for college and a lot of other external opportunities I’ve received — just because I went,” he said.

21

Above: Students in the Destination Mars class test their water filtration system they built using rocks, sand, filter paper and other items. During the class, students planned a manned mission to Mars. Below: A student writes her Chinese name in Chinese calligraphy during ASMSA HD.

Enriching and Engaging ASMSA reaches out to young students around the state through fun courses What’s the probability of rolling a certain number on a six-sided die?

If you said one in six, you’d be correct — that is unless you’re using Denise Gregory’s special die. Then the odds rise to 100 percent since the same number is on every side. But don’t let anyone know, at least not until she has tricked the participants in “The Mathematics of Game Shows” class at one of ASMSA’s weekend Science and Engineering Institutes to give the wrong answer.

Gregory, a math instructor at ASMSA, uses the die to help teach the participants about math probabilities and how they factor into game shows. She and her husband, Bob, ASMSA’s interim dean of academic affairs and a fellow math instructor, inform the students how math is incorporated in popular game shows such as “Deal or No Deal,” “Let’s Make A Deal” and “The Price is Right.”

The students must decide if the risk is worth the reward by staying active. What is

22

Students had the opportunity to draw the colors of gasses as seen through spectroscopes in one of the classes at the Oct. 19 Science and Engineering Institute. The students also made their own spectroscope with a Pringles can.

the probability that a one will be rolled the next round? What about two ones?

It is just one of the classes the Gregorys teach during the Science and Engineering Institutes.

Several other ASMSA instructors also share their passion for math, science and language at the institutes with students in the sixth through 10th grades.

Bob Gregory said one of the best aspects of the institutes is that it’s ungraded learning. There are no quizzes or tests or grades to worry about. The students are there because they want to be.

“The kids are choosing to get up on a Saturday morning to come and learn something,” he said. “When you have a group of kids who have chosen to get up and come, you’re going to get kids who want to learn. When you have something to share, there’s an excitement and an enthusiasm you get from the kids that’s easy to project back to them.”

Biology instructor Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak, who often teaches biology-related courses at SEI, echoed Gregory’s thoughts.

“I love to see the excitement in young students’ eyes when they are exposed to often very complicated information and the latest research,” she said. “In their home schools, they’re not usually

doing a lot of hands-on experimentation at that level. Sometimes people will say they’re too young to understand, but it’s really amazing the level of understanding you actually achieve when it’s something interesting. ” This is the second year the monthly SEIs have been held on campus. Last year, the program was sponsored through a $10,800 grant from The Ross Foundation in Arkadelphia.

Expanded programs The success of the program led the school to consider variations of SEI. The first variation of the class was SEI+, in which students participated in one class over three separate weekends.

The second variation is SEI@, in which the school takes the program on the road to various areas of the state. The trips are sponsored by a $10,024 grant from the Arkansas Community Foundation.

The first road session was held at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in October.

More than 60 students from northeast Arkansas as well as several teachers attended the session. Physics instructor Shane Thompson taught a class in which students built a rocket out of a two-liter soda bottle.

He said the road sessions have

several benefits, one of the most important being that the school is fulfilling one of its mandated missions of outreach to students and teachers across the state.

Bringing the SEI@ across the state to students who may not be able to travel to Hot Springs is important, Thompson said. It also gives teachers the opportunity to learn some activities they can replicate at their school.

“It gives them ideas that they can do in their classrooms that — with a little bit of effort — they can do just as well as I can,” Thompson said.

ASMSA held two other programs similar to SEI this year as well. In September, ASMSA presented Destination Mars at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. Students planned a manned mission to Mars, including building a ship, a landing pod and a filtration system. The pods, carrying a raw egg, were dropped about 20 feet to see if the eggs were unbroken after it landed. Destination Mars was made possible through a grant from the NASA Summer of Innovation program.

Most recently, the school held ASMSA Humanities Day: Language and International Culture.

Students participated in two sessions, one focusing on Spanish and the other on Mandarin Chinese.

In the Spanish class, students learned traditional greetings, played a game that introduced them to Spanish and made a buffet of different foods popular in Latino countries. In the Chinese class, students created their own Chinese name and learned to write it in calligraphy.

Bob Gregory said he has seen many students return to take classes in the different programs.

He is now seeing some of those students starting to participate in the school’s shadowing program and applying for admission to the school.

“There is a value to the institution in engaging those kids. It’s getting them excited about coming here,” he said.

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End Note REDEVELOPING THE ALUMNI COMMUNITY Daniel Sims (’05) is serving as president of the founding board of the Alumni and Friends of ASMSA. He is the managing partner of RDSF Consulting, a firm that specializes in helping organizations raise more money, develop their boards and ensure the overall success of the missions. He founded the company in 2011.

As ASMSA begins the celebration of its 20th anniversary, several alumni and members of the school’s staff have been working for nearly a year to create a new community for alumni and other institutional supporters to come together to aid in the continual development of the school. That community has been named Association for Alumni and Friends of ASMSA (AAFA).

As a 2005 graduate of ASMSA, I found my experiences at the school invaluable as I navigated through life as an undergraduate student at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Mo. Many of my new friends struggled through the transition from living at home to a communal setting or being self-directed in their study regimen. All of these problems were things that I faced in my two years at ASMSA, and having successfully overcome them with the help of Community Leaders, Residential Mentors and faculty and staff, I found myself ahead of the game, allowing me to become a leader among my peers.

As I have worked with ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice, Director of Institutional Advancement Greg Reed and Development Specialist Vicki Hinz, I have been very conscious of the concept of community in the design of our mission. While our alumni are vital to the success of the school, we must also remember the parents of alumni, faculty and staff as well as attendees who, for one reason or another, did not graduate with their class.

AAFA will be tapping into this energy to create a new avenue for advocates of the school, its programs and its profound effects on the lives of all who have come into contact with it.

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AAFA

Association for Alumni and Friends of ASMSA The Association for Alumni and Friends of ASMSA (AAFA) is comprised of all graduates, attendees, and past faculty and staff of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. As such, AAFA will: Promote the institutional interests of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.

Promote the interests of all current and past students, faculty and staff associated with the institution.

Serve as a voice for graduates of ASMSA in matters affecting the institution’s continual reputation as a leading educational institution.

Provide alumni of the institution with a central hub to connect with classmates and other alumni.

Partner with the ASMSA Foundation Board of Ambassadors to raise money for the institution.

Over the next year, the AAFA will be partnering with the Office of Institutional Advancement to create local chapters around the country, where members can create their own smaller communities while developing professionally.

We invite you to join AAFA this year as we help usher ASMSA into its second decade. For more information on how to get involved, like the AAFA page on Facebook (www.facebook. com/ARMathSciArtsaafa) for updates or send an email to alumni@asmsa.org. We are thrilled to be partnered with school officials to make this community a vibrant, valuable piece of the ASMSA experience.

Give the perfect gift.

Help us celebrate the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts’ 20th anniversary by participating in the 20 for 20 Campaign. Please make a gift of at least $20 to the ASMSA Foundation Fund’s 2014 Annual Fund to help cover all the needs of ASMSA and its students.

You can make a difference in our students’ lives. Learn more by visiting asmsafoundationfund.givezooks.com or scanning the accompanying QR code.

Celebrating

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Final Frame

Students from Hanamaki (Japan) Agricultural High School visit a chemistry class during a tour of ASMSA. Twenty-three students from the school visisted the ASMSA campus on Oct. 31 through Nov. 3 as part of the Kakehashi Project — The Bridge for Tomorrow, a project of the The Japan Foundation’s Youth Exchange Program with North America.