Educational Outreach – Area High School Students Involved in ORNL Project on Computations for Combustion of Alternative Fuels

Local high school students have been actively involved in projects at ORNL for the chemical kinetic modeling of alternative fuels in high-efficiency, clean combustion engines.  Two Oak Ridge High School students - KC Cushman and Refuyat Ashen, shown in the image below during a visit of Rep. Zach Wamp to Benita Albert’s class at ORHS - have been mentored by Joanna McFarlane since May 2007. Refuyat's focus is on ethanol mixtures, while KC is studying biodiesel. Refuyat and KC were named as semi-finalists in the prestigious Siemens competition, and expect to continue their projects throughout the 2007/08 school year.  Also working in NSTD is a Farragut High School senior student, Timm Moon, who will be modeling the chemical structures of long chain olefins and methyl esters using electronic structure calculations.