Congratulations, Gabriela Farfan

Gabriela is a winner of the Intel Science Talent Search competition this year. She won a $20,000 scholarship for studying Oregon sunstone, a precious variety of feldspar that is the state gemstone of Oregon. Her high school has a short article about her, and Science News, which has administered the contest since it was the Westinghouse Science Talent Search in 1942, mentions her in its coverage. The Intel contest site has a profile giving more detail, namely that she used some advanced imaging to determine that Oregon sunstones from the Dust Devil Mine display change of color (specifically, pleochroism and schiller) due to nanoscale copper-zinc inclusions. Her research was presented at GSA in October, too. Congratulations are in order; thanks for representing geology!

We did a little email interview, as follows:

Me: Have you been participating in science fairs for a long time? When did you start, and how have your projects changed since then?

Gabriela: This was the first science fair I participated in. However, I have been involved in Science Olympiad since 6th grade. I am the Wisconsin state champion in the Rocks and Minerals event, as well as the Fossils event.

I started my interest in minerals and my mineral collection when I was seven years old. When I was around ten years old, my parents took me on my first rock hounding trip to Arkansas for quartz and diamonds. Every year since then I have been traveling out West and to Canada to collect minerals at various mineral deposits such as the Dust Devil Mine sunstones, Virgin Valley opals, Yogo sapphires, and Alberta ammolites. Two years ago I decided that it was time for me to start doing mineralogical research. When you dig for your own specimens and surround yourself with minerals, countless questions start accumulating in your brain. Research is the perfect way to answer them. Dr. Huifang Xu was kind enough to take on my project about the Oregon Sunstones from the Dust Devil Mine (my favorite mine to collect at) at the Wisc Nanogeoscience laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This was my first serious project and I am very excited to continue research and start new projects.

Me: What led you to think that Oregon sunstone might be scientifically interesting, and how did you pick your material? How much did you need?

Gabriela: Ever since I started my interest in minerals, I have been fascinated by color properties such as color change, dichroism, tenebrescence, etc. Oregon Sunstones exhibit interesting pleochroic properties. They also have a unique copper schiller effect. I collected all of the specimens myself at the mine over the past six years. I did not need to use too much material for the SEM, TEM or XRD.

Me: Did you go to the GSA meeting where your work was presented? If so, how did it impress you? I ask because I attended a GSA meeting as a high-schooler and it left a deep impression on me.

Gabriela: Unfortunately, I did not go to the GSA meeting last year. Graduate student Tina Hill is continuing my project on the TEM for her master's thesis. I presented my work earlier at the 2008 Goldschmidt Conference in Vancouver last July. That conference was an incredible experience for me too! It was fun to be surounded by a bunch of professors and postdocs that were so encouraging of my project. This conference was especially fascinating because it was an international conference and different languages were being spoken everywhere. I believe that I am the first high school student to have presented there.

Me: What are your college plans these days?

Gabriela: I am still deciding on colleges. I was accepted at both of the schools that I am considering: Stanford and UW Madison. It all depends on whether or not I can afford Stanford and whether or not I can do my own research there. I have a great research position here at UW, so I will most likely stay here.