Nadya Ally

A Unique First Job: High School Student Contributes to Alternative Energy Research Project
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Few high school students in their first job get to assist scientists in research directed at solving a national problem such as developing an alternative fuel source, but Oak Ridge High School senior Nadya Ally did.

Her involvement in the Science, Engineering, Communications and Mathematics Enrichment (SECME) High School Program made that special experience possible this summer through a 10-week internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which was administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.

Assisting mentor Craig Brandt of the ORNL Biosciences Division, Ally helped document and analyze data on switchgrass, a warm-season perennial grass, to determine if it can be used as a biofuel feedstock.

Ally described herself as having been “more of a history or English person” who gained an appreciation for mathematics and science through her participation in the SECME High School Program.

“She had an opportunity to see how research is conducted and how the results can help address a significant national challenge,” Brandt said.

Ally read scientific papers and lab reports to learn about switchgrass and then assembled a spreadsheet with data such as switchgrass yield and the associated growing site conditions, including precipitation and temperature.

Next, using a commercial statistical discovery software package called JMP, she studied how the switchgrass yield data are related to growing conditions. The data she assembled will enhance an on-going analysis in ORNL’s Bioenergy Program about the feasibility of using switchgrass as feedstock for biofuel.

“This program gives Oak Ridge High School SECME students a chance to get some hands-on experience in a professional atmosphere, as well as shows them some interesting career options,” said Will Minter, director of asset management and small business at ORNL and sponsor for the program’s ORNL component. “ORNL loves the chance to mentor bright, young students.”

Ally said: “The internship has helped me immediately because this year at school I’m taking statistics, and have already gotten a chance to be exposed to distributions and what they mean.”

She noted that although her ideal career changes almost weekly, she has gained a sense of reassurance by interacting with a variety of people at ORNL who required some time themselves to determine their career directions before ultimately finding their niches in the work world.

“I was able to meet different people who said, ‘I first started studying this, but I ended up studying biology and now I work here,’” Ally explained. She added that she may want to work at the lab herself one day.

She was impressed by the variety of people she got to meet from across Tennessee and other parts of the Southeast, as well as from the northern areas of the U.S.  

Ally said that as a high school student among such a diverse group of people, most of whom were older than her, she felt somewhat intimidated at times but that the atmosphere was very beneficial. She explained that even though not everyone could be a mentor to her, she had the opportunity to chat with many different people and “learned a lot” in the process.