Valeria Ventura, an eighth-grader at Dodd, has been selected to participate in the Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation 2016: Exploring the Cosmos with the National Radio Telescope Observatory summer program. She is one of just 20 students nationwide - and the only one from New York - to be accepted to the program.
At NRAO, Ventura will join a select team of undergraduates and scientists to conduct research to observe the "invisible" universe using a 40-foot radio telescope that has a dish that is larger than an entire football field; it is the largest telescope in the world. Under the supervision of NRAO staff, she will also participate in supplementary educational activities, including building electronic circuits and writing computer code.
Ventura is currently a student of Brookhaven National Laboratory scientist Dr. David Biersach's Scientific Computing class, which meets every Wednesday at Freeport High School, and of Tom Doyle's Science Research class.
Funding for PING comes directly from the White House, and all costs, including transportation, meals and lodging are provided by the program. The program will be held from July 24-Aug. 6, at NRAO in Green Bank, West Virginia.
