Selected Practicum Profiles
Bonnie Kirkpatrick
Imagine constructing a family tree for people named Smith based on how much each Smith resembles other Smiths, and you’ll get an idea of Bonnie Kirkpatrick’s task.
Kirkpatrick first took on the challenge in summer 2005 during her Computational Science Graduate Fellowship practicum at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Working with Senior Scientist Adam Zemla, Kirkpatrick helped refine computer algorithms to automatically compare and classify the structures of thousands of proteins.
[An edited excerpt from DEIXIS (2006-2007), the DOE CSGF Annual]
David Potere
David Potere has lived in 18 homes in 29 years and visited five continents in six years, first as the son of an Air Force pilot and then as a Navy lieutenant. Despite that, “I’m always lost,” he jokes.
So it’s no wonder Potere’s path led to geography. He’s become part of a growing community of researchers who use high-performance computers and satellite imagery to make better maps – especially ones showing where people live. In doctoral degree research at Princeton University and his Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) practicum, Potere refined techniques to make global maps of human population more accurate.
[An edited excerpt from DEIXIS (2006-2007), the DOE CSGF Annual]
Jeff Hammond
Every day, while making the 15-minute drive to his summer practicum at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in southeast Washington State, Jeff Hammond passed the Hanford Site. Formerly used to produce plutonium for America’s first nuclear weapons, the 586-square-mile reservation now is home to the world’s largest environmental cleanup.
[An edited excerpt from DEIXIS (2007-2008), the DOE CSGF Annual]
Julianne Chung
Julianne Chung has an appreciation for versatility, starting with her academic interests. She showed an aptitude for mathematics at an all-girls high school in her hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn., but Chung has a love for dancing that dates back even further. She followed both interests and graduated in 2004 from Atlanta’s Emory University with a major in mathematics and a minor in dance and movement studies.
[An edited excerpt from DEIXIS (2008-2009), the DOE CSGF Annual]
