Clark Summer Students Are Cream of the Crop

For a group of 20 inquisitive UT Dallas undergraduates, the slow pace of summer is the perfect time to experience the joys of science.

The University’s Anson L. Clark Summer Research Program selects only the highest-achieving incoming freshman or returning “Clark students” to pull on lab coats and step up to the lab bench to conduct experiments.

“Expectations at UT Dallas are high, and the Clark program gives these bright students a chance to contribute in a working laboratory,” said Blake Hamaker of the Academic Excellence Scholarship program and coordinator for the Clark Summer Research Program. “They also get the working experience they’ll need to succeed in their chosen field of study.”

Hamaker noted the average SAT score of this year’s group — 1440 — is impressive. The students are placed in science and engineering labs across campus, and each looks for ways to contribute to their chosen fields of study. At summer’s end, they gather with peers and faculty members to present their work.

Sophomore physics major Caleb Dean will return for his second Clark summer to pick up where he left off last summer working on a railgun system. Working with Dr. Gregory Earle, he will measure how fast projectiles fire from the railgun, a device that uses magnets and electricity to propel a projectile through and out of a gun barrel.

Kate Arthur is a freshman transfer from Utah who will enter UT Dallas in the fall with a double major in biochemistry and molecular biology.

“This summer, I plan to work in Dr. Inga Musselman’s lab, synthesizing peptides — molecules made of two or more amino acids — which we’ll introduce to carbon nanotubes,” Arthur said. “We’ll then test the electrical properties of the tubes in the presence of the surfactant peptides.”

Incoming freshman Patrick Hennessy will work with Dr. Dean Terry in the MobileLab in the Arts and Technology program. Hennessy plans to research other universities and programs that are working with augmented reality applications, which pair virtual and real-world images.

Anson L. Clark had a highly unusual and successful career — first as an engineer, then as a physician at the Mayo Clinic and finally as a businessman in the oil and banking industries. Clark’s philanthropic activities have for many decades supported scholarly endeavors at a number of Texas colleges and universities, including the Anson L. Clark Memorial Lecture, the Clark Summer Research Program and the Clark Presidential Scholarship at UT Dallas.

Eight women and 12 men are participating in the 2008 Clark Summer Research Program.