KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Four University of Kansas students, all involved in undergraduate research, are competing for national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, regarded as the premier undergraduate award to encourage excellence in science, engineering and mathematics.

Nominated through the University Honors Program, KU’s nominees are

— Katherine Joann Harry, a junior from Spring Hill in chemical engineering
— Anthony Robert Prosser, a junior from Raytown, Mo., and Meriden, Kan., in chemistry
— Kevin Changhun Song, a sophomore from Lawrence and Seoul, South Korea, in chemical engineering
— Chantz Palmer Thomas, a junior from Lindsborg in history and microbiology

The Goldwater Foundation trustees will announce the 2010 winners in late March. The scholarships cover eligible expenses for undergraduate tuition, fees, books and room and board, up $7,500 annually. The trustees intend to award up to 300 Goldwater scholarships. The number of scholarships to be awarded per state will depend on the number and qualifications of the nominees from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and, considered as a single entity, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

A total of 47 KU students have received Goldwater scholarships since they first were awarded in 1989. Congress established the program in 1986 in tribute to the retired U.S. senator from Arizona and to ensure a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

Goldwater scholars have impressive academic qualifications that have garnered the attention of prestigious postgraduate fellowship programs, including 73 Rhodes scholarships, 102 Marshall scholarships and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

Only sophomore- and junior-level students with outstanding academic records, significant research experience and high potential for careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering were eligible for nomination. Nominees submitted applications that included essays related to the nominee’s career and faculty recommendations.

All the nominees are members of the University Honors Program. Brief descriptions of their career plans and academic endeavors follow.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66047 and Seoul, South Korea
Kevin Changhun Song is focused on a career in biomedical science, teaching and research. He plans to earn a medical degree and a doctoral degree in structural biology, specializing in molecular modeling of proteins. Song received one of eight 2009 undergraduate research scholarships through the Kansas IDeA (Institutional Development Awards) Network of Biomedical Research Excellence program at KU. Wonpil Im, assistant professor of molecular science, advises Song’s research. Song received a student travel award from the Biophysical Society to present his research on lipid membrane structures using molecular dynamics simulations at the society’s annual meeting in February in San Francisco. Since his senior year of high school, he has worked in Im’s lab in the Center for Bioinformatics. Song began by learning the basics of a biomolecular simulation program known as CHARMM (Chemistry at HARvard Molecular Mechanics). Last summer, with Im’s encouragement, Song visited CHARMM researcher Richard Pastor at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. This summer, the KU sophomore has an internship to study membrane biophysics in Pastor’s NIH lab. Song entered KU as a Summerfield scholar, one of KU’s most prestigious scholarships for the top graduates of Kansas high schools. As a member of the Zeta Theta Tau engineering honor society, Song is working with others to develop an automatic recycling machine for campus use. He was a member of the Freshman Engineering Student Council and was on the KU Club Crew. Song is a first-generation American. His parents, Byung Ho Song and Jeungen Yu, both of Seoul, South Korea, arranged for their son to be educated in the United States. He is a Lawrence Free State High School graduate. His U.S. guardians are Sam and Jacque Shipstead of Lawrence.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Spring Hill 66083
Katherine Joann Harry is preparing for a research and teaching career that will allow her to develop affordable and environmentally sustainable technologies for use in energy, computing or water treatment, or a combination of these. As a Summer Scholar for the Center for Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harry has worked with Karl Berggren in the Research Laboratory of Electronics with the quantum nanostructures and nanofabrication group. She wrote an abstract based on her research with the group for the 2010 Electron, Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication Conference and presented her research in a poster session for the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. At KU, Harry worked two years with Susan Williams, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, in researching more efficient catalysts and processes for biodiesel production as part of the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis and Transportation Research Institute. Harry has had three internships with ExxonMobil, working with design engineers and site economists on refinery systems and operations. As a member of KU’s Engineers Without Borders chapter, Harry has volunteered in Guatemala and Mexico, where she observed “first hand the tremendous impact of simple and elegant technology on the developing world.” She noted that with advances in communication and computing, families in remote areas were using cell phones for business and emergencies and also had new educational opportunities with broadened Internet access. She observed communities opting for clean electricity and fuel made possible by materials research. Harry hopes to use her scientific creativity to make similar contributions for the developing world. She has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for seven years and was the December 2009 KU Habitater of the Month. She is a member of the Theta Tau professional engineering fraternity. She is the daughter of Joann Paul and Jack Harry and is a graduate of Spring Hill High School.

McPHERSON COUNTY
From Lindsborg 67456
Chantz Palmer Thomas plans to earn a medical degree and a doctorate in immunology. His career interests include research opportunities to develop better techniques for preventing transplant rejection, managing autoimmune disease and combating cancer as well as developing health maintenance strategies for space travel. As a Smoky Valley High School senior, Thomas was selected to participate in the Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition in April 2007 in Washington, D.C. Thomas was one of 20 science and engineering majors selected for KU’s Honors Research Development Program, which provides incoming sophomores in the sciences a three-week immersion in basic research methods with a faculty mentor. Through that program, Thomas began assisting with immunology research projects in the lab of Stephen H. Benedict, professor of molecular biosciences. Thomas contributes to research related to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, insulin dependent diabetes and multiple sclerosis in humans as well as prevention of transplant rejection. Thomas has been offered a summer 2010 internship in immunology at Harvard Medical School. Last spring, Thomas received one of eight 2009 undergraduate research scholarships through the Kansas IDeA (Institutional Development Awards) Network of Biomedical Research Excellence program. The scholarships encourage students to pursue careers in science and, ultimately, promote biomedical research in Kansas. This spring, Thomas and two faculty members in molecular biosciences — Benedict and Scott Hefty, professor — founded a KU chapter of the American Society for Microbiology. Thomas is president of the chapter. He was a freshman student senator and is chair of the Student Health Advisory Board. He also serves on the review board of the KU Journal of Undergraduate Research. In spring 2008, he performed with the university’s Jazz Band III. Thomas has a Summerfield scholarship, one of KU’s most prestigious awards for the top graduates of Kansas high schools and is a University Scholar, a mentoring program for 20 outstanding students selected in their sophomore year. He is the son of Greg and Lorye Thomas.

MISSOURI
From Raytown 64113 and Meriden, Kan. 66512
Anthony Robert Prosser’s career goals include teaching organic chemistry at a university and researching synthetic methods of creating chemical intermediate compounds, efficiently, cheaply and quickly. One of his research advisers at KU describes Prosser as a serious investigator and team member who chooses interesting synthetic targets and executes research with skills of a graduate-level student. Prosser had his first peer-reviewed research paper accepted in February for publication in a respected scientific journal. This spring he received an undergraduate research award through the University Honors Program to research the synthesis of Diamides, or dipeptides, an organic compound often used in medications. His research could assist chemists working to develop more potent and less toxic drugs. Mikhail A. Rubin, assistant professor of chemistry, is his adviser for the project. Prosser has given presentations at regional meetings and conferences based on his work with Rubin on research related to the synthesis of Diamides. He also has worked in KU’s biodiesel research labs on an analysis of caustic residue in waste water produced in the labs. Prosser is a McNair scholar and Summerfield scholar. The latter is one of KU’s most prestigious awards offered to top graduates of Kansas high schools. The McNair Scholars Program prepares low-income, first-generation college students for graduate education. Prosser is co-captain of an intramural dodgeball team he helped found on campus and is an active member of the campus Chem Club. He is the son of Kevin Prosser, of Raytown, Mo., and a graduate of Jefferson West High School in Meriden, Kan.