DESERET NEWS - KSL STERLING SCHOLAR AWARDS

2017 STUDENT ENTRY FORM

Name Of Nominee: Katrina Le

School: Academy for Math Engineering and Science Category: Science

Personal Biography
Hello! My name is Katrina M Quyên Le. My story begins in the suburbs of West Jordan, Utah on a Christmas Eve when I was born.
However, my history began much before that. M Quyên is more than my middle name; it is my Vietnamese name given to me by my
wonderful Vietnamese immigrant parents meaning “pretty bird”. My background humbles and inspires me every day.
“Life is about creating yourself,” as George Bernard Shaw once said. That is my life philosophy. I believe Sterling Scholar and my
journey as the Science Sterling Scholar at AMES will enrich my life and help me create myself to be the best person I can be. So how
am I going to create myself to be the best person I can be? By exploring the world with my zest for life and using science to improve the
world around me.

American College Testing (ACT) -

English: 36 Math: 35 Reading: 35 Sci./Reasoning: 33 Composite: 35

Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) -

Reading: Mathematics: Writing:

Grade Point Average: 4.0 Class Ranking: 1/105

Supporting Attachment - Transcript

Dear Sterling Scholar Committee,
I have known Katrina Le for approximately nine months as an intern in my laboratory, and I am
very happy and honored to recommend her for a Sterling Scholar Award.
I take on many high school interns, about 20 each year. To be frank, most require far more time
in instruction and guidance than they ever return in productive work. But every couple years I
am rewarded with a truly amazing intern. Katrina is one of those excellent interns.
Her 4.0 GPA speaks for itself; Katrina is clearly bright and studious. I, though, know many 4.0
students who are not all that talented in practical settings. Katrina, however, excels on all fronts.
She is a marvel in the lab. I put her on a NSF project meant to place research-grade air quality
sensors on high school campuses around the valley, in order to create a real-time air quality map
for Salt Lake County and answer multiple research question that directly affect the health of our
community. Katrina has been invaluable on this project, more valuable than some of our paid
research assistants; we, in fact, put her on the payroll a couple months ago. She quickly learned
to use our laser cutter and build casings for our sensors that protect from weather without
affecting particle distribution data. She was also key in developing a teaching module in which
students build air quality sensors out of Legos, microcontrollers, and various electronic
components. This particular work resulted in excellent national press for our department and was
very well-received by our NSF program managers.
Katrina presented this work at the national American Institute of Chemical Engineers conference
in Minneapolis last fall. Perhaps most impressive, last week we received word that Katrina’s
work was accepted for publication, and she will have a first-author peer-reviewed paper before
she is even out of high school. I could not expect such productivity even out of a graduate
student.
Katrina is also a joy to work with and I’m certain she will mesh well with any research team in
either a support or leadership role. She is always professional and gregarious. She is both a hard
worker and a smart worker, keeping the teams she is on very organized and efficient.
In summary, I emphatically recommend Katrina Le. An investment in this student will be an
extraordinarily wise investment.

Yours sincerely,

Anthony Butterfield
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
University of Utah
Department of Chemical Engineering
January 11, 2018

To the Sterling Scholar Selection Committee:

It is my pleasure to write this letter in support of Katrina Le who is the Sterling Scholar finalist
in Science for our school. Katrina is one of our most focused and outstanding female students
who aspires to pursue a career in science. I have had the pleasure of knowing Katrina during
her almost four years at AMES and can heartily recommend her as an excellent student. As the
Internship Coordinator, I have had the pleasure of following her progress as she transitioned
from interning at the University of Utah Chemical Engineering department to being a research
assistant with the Bioscience Summer Research Program also at the University of Utah, and
now her paid position with the Chemical Engineering department under Dr. Tony Butterfield.
Katrina has been fully committed to all three positions which required her to work together
with other participants and also to make public presentations about what she has done.

Katrina goes out of her way to be friendly to all other AMES students and has assisted as a
student mentor/tutor with our school’s program to help struggling students. This required her
to not only assist with the planned activities, but to make outreach to the new and continuing
students throughout the year. She has challenged herself to speak up in class, listen to other’s
ideas and to talk to people she would not usually talk to. She usually spends any unscheduled
school time either working on her own studies or assisting other students with theirs.

In the past two years, she has become very involved with the American Red Cross Leadership
program. Through this, and our school’s Service through Science club, she has helped to
organize multiple community projects that include placing smoke detectors in unprotected
homes, creating “survival” kits for struggling and homeless youth, helping to raise funds for
2017 hurricane victims and organizing gifts that were donated for hospitalized children. Her
commitment to our community is infectious as she encourages other students to join her.

I am pleased to highly recommend Katrina for this honor. I have no doubt that she will be
successful in a university setting and will become a valuable member of the science
community. Gaining this recognition will definitely be a valuable first step in helping her attain
this goal.

Martha Smith Taylor

Community Connected Learning/Internship Coordinator
The Academy for Math, Engineering & Science (AMES)
In 20 words or less, list up to six activities, honors and awards relating to your category.
1. Paid Intern at University of Utah Chemical Engineering Department
2. Bioscience High School Research Program
3. Shadowing University of Utah Urology Department
4. Top 10 in State of Utah in National ACS Chemistry Olympiad Exam
5. 3rd Place at 2016 State NHD Fair for Senior Division Individual Documentary on Harvey Cushing, the father of neurosurgery
6. AMES Excellence in Chemistry Honors 2015-2016

Choose one of the activities, honors or awards, describe it briefly and explain why it was meaningful to you. What did you learn
and what did you accomplish?
The test tubes, flasks, and beakers were covered in a rainbow array of colors, from yellows to oranges to browns. And the smell, well,
they all stunk. My mentor even proclaimed that some of them were “stink bombs”. One thing was for sure: we had to clean all of it. It
was grunt work.

That was my first official day as an intern at the University of Utah Chemical Engineering Department under Dr. Tony Butterfield. I
started my internship in the summer of 2016 for my internship class at the Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science, which required
60 hours at an internship. The internship at the Chemical Engineering Department just sounded interesting. However, I was under the
premise that after 60 hours, I would be done and leave the internship. Little did I know that I would end up deciding to stick around
much longer and that this internship would change my life.

After a few weeks as a new intern, I was introduced to the AirU Project, a project that aims to create a live air quality map of the Salt
Lake Valley by distributing low-cost air quality sensors to homes, schools, and businesses in order to close the time and spatial disparities
in air quality data. I was in awe of the idea of the project especially seeing the potential it could have. But there was one thing the AirU
Project needed, and that was a K12 teaching module to help inform students on how air quality sensors work by having them build their
own sensors.

That’s when things started to get really fun. Along with some other interns from my school, I helped develop the Building Block Air
Sensor Teaching Module. Within this teaching module, students create an air sensor using simple electronic parts and Legos. Students
may be flexible in their designs, which allows the teaching module to engage student creativity and be more hands-on. This teaching
module has reached over 30 classrooms and over 1000 students and has gotten national news coverage.

It’s been almost two years now since I started this internship. Since then, I have become a paid intern under both Dr. Tony Butterfield
and Dr. Kerry Kelly and have spent hundreds of hours in the lab. And as an intern, I have continued working on the Building Block Air
Sensor Teaching Module and have written a paper on it that has recently been accepted to the peer-reviewed journal Chemical
Engineering Education as well as presented the teaching module at the 2017 AIChE Annual Meeting, a professional chemical
engineering conference, in Minneapolis. I have also worked on calibrating the AirU sensors and have helped develop other teaching
modules. From doing grunt work to writing and publishing a paper, I fell in love with my internship and chemical engineering in
general, something I previously never considered. Now, I want to pursue an engineering degree in college. My internship and the people
there have become a second home and family. I love it.
KATRINA MỸ QUYÊN LÊ
SCIENCE CATEGORY SCHOLARSHIP DESCRIPTION
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AT UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

As an intern at the University of Utah Chemical

Engineering Department since the summer of 2016, I’ve
been heavily involved with a variety of projects…
AIRU PROJECT

 The AirU Project (https://airu.coe.utah.edu/) seeks to

create a live air quality map of the Salt Lake Valley by
bringing low-cost air quality sensors to schools, homes,
and businesses (live air quality map:
http://www.aqandu.org/)
 With the AirU Project, I’ve… CO gas calibration chamber I have been building.

 Developed various K12 teaching modules such as the

Building Block Air Quality Sensor Teaching Module, AirU
Care & Feeding Teaching Module, and 3D-Printed Valley
Teaching Module (can be found here:
https://airu.coe.utah.edu/teaching-modules/)
 Helped calibrate low-cost air quality sensors
 Wrote a paper on the Building Block Air Quality Sensor
Teaching Module that was accepted to Chemical Engineering
Education

The boards of our AirU Sensors that have been deployed

AICHE CONFERENCE

I had the wonderful opportunity of attending

and presenting at the 2017 American
Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
Annual Meeting at the Minneapolis
Convention Center! There, I was able to
present our Building Block Air Quality
Sensor Teaching Module at a session focused
on K12 Outreach!

Me presenting at the AIChE Conference in Minneapolis on October 31, 2017.

BIOSCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL RESEARCH PROGRAM

During my summer in 2017, I was able to take part in

the University of Utah’s Bioscience High School
Research Program. For the first two weeks, I learned
basic biology lab techniques. Then, for 20 hours a week
for six weeks, I was placed in the Matt Mulvey Pathology
Lab at the University of Utah to do actual paid biology
research how different flagellar serotypes affect different
immune responses to sepsis. After the six weeks were
over, I created a poster to present my findings (full
poster available in additional attachments)

Me and my Bioscience High School Research Program group from the first two
weeks of the program.
SHADOWING DR. SARA LENHERR AT UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
UROLOGY DEPARTMENT

By shadowing Dr. Sara Lenherr several times

over the summer of 2017, I was able to
witness a variety of urology cases both in
the clinic and the O.R. One O.R. case
involved the insertion of an InterSTIM device
used for bladder control. The experience
was fascinating!
TOP 10 IN STATE OF UTAH IN NATIONAL ACS CHEMISTRY
OLYMPIAD EXAM

In the spring of 2017, I was able to participate in the

ACS National Chemistry Olympiad Exam. I managed to
be in the Top 10 for the state of Utah. The test was
difficult but was also really fun!
3RD PLACE AT 2016 STATE NHD FAIR FOR SENIOR DIVISION
INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTARY

During my sophomore year of high school (2015-2016),

I participated in the National History Day Fair. The
theme was “Exploration, Encounter, & Exchange” in
history. For my project, I created a documentary on
Harvey Cushing, the father of neurosurgery and his
contributions to science and the medical field. I was
able to win 3rd Place in the State of Utah! My full
documentary can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SGigIEP_uk
ACADEMY FOR MATH, ENGINEERING, & SCIENCE EXCELLENCE
AWARDS

I have been honored at my school’s award

banquet w/ “Excellence” awards in…
 University of Utah Calculus 1210 & 1220
(2016-2017)
 AP U.S. History (2016-2017)
 Chemistry Honors (2015-2016)
 Spanish II (2014-2015)
List up to six activities, honors and awards that relate to the leadership qualifications.
1. National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist
2. Math Tutor for Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science 2016-2017
3. Oldest Sibling
4. Proactive Member of Cottonwood High School Girls' Tennis Team as Junior Varsity #1 Singles Player
5. Current Personal Physics Tutor for Fellow AMES High School Student
6. Current Teacher's Assistant for University of Utah Chemistry 1220 Class at AMES

Choose one of the activities, honors or awards that relate to the leadership qualification and describe it briefly.
Nelson Mandela once said, “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there
is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” To lead from behind and put others in front...what does that mean?

As a student at the Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science, I have worked as a paid math tutor for the 2016-2017 school year and am a current teacher’s assistant for the
school’s concurrent enrollment University of Utah Chemistry 1220 class as well as a current personal tutor for a student taking the Physics Honors course at our school. Through
tutoring as well as being a teacher’s assistant, I’ve learned a lot about leadership.

I’ve learned that tutoring is much more difficult than it seems. One of my tutorees was struggling in math and I would tutor her for 3 to 4.5 hours per week. It was hard since she
simply didn’t have motivation for school and strongly disliked it. At first, I was tempted to require her to do additional problems outside of her homework in order for her to improve
her skills, but it was difficult for me to get her to finish her homework. Problem after problem, I would attempt to show her how to solve it. What I tried to tutor to her just wouldn’t
stick.

I realized that I forgotten the meaning of leadership at this instance. I realized that tutoring her should be about her sense of progress, not mine. I had to make a change. So in order
to lead from behind and put her in front, instead of forcing her to make progress, I wanted to inspire in her a greater motivation for learning. I wanted to show her that learning was
fun. I adjusted my tutoring to fit her needs. I would help her with what she told me she wanted to improve on and provided her positive support when needed. Our tutoring sessions
would not only involve solving math problems, but conversations that inspired our curiosities in all subjects. I became her friend. Over the year, I was able to see definite
improvement in her academically, but also in her motivation for learning. Leadership is not about being in charge of everything and having things done your way, it is about inspiring
others to be the best they can be.
KATRINA MỸ QUYÊN LÊ
LEADERSHIP DESCRIPTION
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SEMIFINALIST

As a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist, I’ve been

able to positively represent my school AMES in the
competition!
TUTORING

I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to tutor a variety of

students
 I was a math tutor for a student at my school
(AMES) during the 2016-2017 school year
 I am a current personal physics tutor for a fellow
student at AMES
 I am the current teacher’s assistant for the University
of Utah Chemistry 1220 class at my school
I’ve had a lot of fun tutoring other students and have
learned a lot from tutoring!
COTTONWOOD GIRLS’ TENNIS TEAM

I’ve been able to play on the girls’ tennis team at

Cottonwood High School during the 2015-2016 season
as well as the 2017-2018 season. During the 2017-2018
season, I played as the #1 Junior Varsity Singles Player!
As a proactive member of my team, I helped maintain a
positive environment! I was also honored with the
Academic All-State Award and was able to represent
both AMES and Cottonwood High School!
OLDEST SIBLING

In my family of five, I am the oldest sibling. I spend a lot

of time with my family and often look after my siblings!
I try my best to have a great relationship with the both
of them and being a positive role model.
List up to six activities, honors or awards that relate to the qualifications for Community Service and/or Citizenship.
1. Co-President to Salt Lake City Red Cross Youth Services
2. Volunteer at Children's Center
3. Activism
4. Member of Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science Service through Science Club

Choose one of the activities, honors or awards that relate to the Community Service/ Citizenship qualification and describe it briefly.
It all started when I felt like I needed to do something on a day right before my sophomore year of high school. What can I do? I sat down and typed in volunteering Salt Lake City in
the search bar. Eventually, I stumbled upon a page on the Red Cross and their Youth Services Program.

In August 2015, I went to the first monthly meeting for the group. I was faced with a room full of strangers, but they were all very welcoming. Quickly, I became a proactive
member of the group and got to know more and more about all the members, even though we all came from different schools all over the valley. Later that school year, I was offered
a position on the leadership team as the Co-chair for Services to Armed Forces. I began organizing monthly veterans home visits to play Bingo with the veterans. I learned how
important it is to appreciate those who have served our country and how fun it was to do so.

The summer after my sophomore year of high school, I learned about their Leaders Save Lives Program where high school students host blood drives that help with the blood
shortages that happen over the summer. Beforehand, I didn’t know that every two seconds, someone needs blood in the U.S. and that one’s blood could save up to three lives. I held
a blood drive at my local recreation center that summer and two later on. I was happy to get people to donate blood to help the community.

During my junior year, I was elected the Co-chair for Disaster Services. As a co-chair, I got people to attend a training to be certified for the Disaster Action Team and got trained
myself. As part of the Disaster Action Team, I get to be on-call to respond to local disasters such as home fires. I also have participated in the HomeFire Campaign to help install
smoke alarms and got trained to be a part of the Pillowcase Project to teach elementary school kids about disaster preparedness. I loved how I could help people stay safe by
informing them.

Now, I am one of the two Co-Presidents to Salt Lake City’s Red Cross Youth Services. Through my involvement with this group, I have been involved in many community service
projects, from making cards for veterans to raising $3500 as a group for the Measles & Rubella Initiative to provide vaccinations to kids in other countries who need them. It all
started when I knew I wanted to do something before my sophomore year of high school. I realized that I didn’t want to do just something; I wanted to somehow help my community.
And through my involvement with this group, I’ve learned that you can do so much for the community if you put yourself out there to do it. I became passionate about helping those
around me and getting a diverse group of people to do the same.
KATRINA MỸ QUYÊN LÊ
COMMUNITY SERVICE DESCRIPTION
SALT LAKE CITY RED CROSS YOUTH SERVICES

I have been involved with Salt Lake City’s Red Cross Youth Services Leadership Committee
since 2015. Currently, I am one of the two co-presidents for this group! As part of this
group, I have been involved with a large variety of community service projects
 I’ve organized 3 blood drives thus far through their Leaders Save Lives Program
 I’ve helped raise over $800 personally and over $3,500 as a group during their Measles
& Rubella Initiative to provide MMR vaccinations to countries that need them.
 I’ve previously lead as the Disaster Services Co-chair as well as the Services to Armed
Forces Co-chair
 I’ve helped organize visits to the local veterans home
 I’ve participated in the Home Fire Campaign to help install smoke alarms in local
neighbourhoods
 I’m trained to help mentor kids on disaster preparedness through the Pillowcase
Project
 I’m a current member of the Disaster Action Team to be on-call to respond to local
disasters

Me and my group during a monthly meeting.

VOLUNTEER AT CHILDREN’S CENTER

During the summer of 2015, I volunteered at the

Children’s Center, a therapeutic preschool. As a
volunteer, I played with the kids in order to promote
their mental health
MEMBER OF AMES SERVICE THROUGH SCIENCE CLUB

I have been an active member of my school’s (AMES)

Service Through Science Club since 2016. As a member,
I’ve been involved with a variety of community service
projects
 Volunteering at the Festival of Trees
 Making blankets for the homeless
 Raising money for care kits for refugees
 Organizing holiday gifts at Primary Children’s Hospital
 Participating in the annual AMES 5K to raise money for
the InBetween (hospice for homes)
 Made care kits for homeless veterans
ACTIVISM

I enjoy supporting good causes as an activist in my

community. I’ve…
 Helped register voters with Voterise, a nonprofit &
nonpartisan organization at a University of Utah
Tailgating Event
 Participated in the DACA March
 Tabled at the Utah Clean Air Solutions Fair

I showed my support for local DREAMers and the DREAM Act at the DACA March
Describe two or three unique things about yourself and relate them to your category. If possible, include challenges you have overcome and describe any distinctive
experiences that have affected you.
I’d like to think that I am an artist, just not in the traditional sense (hence, why I’m not in the “visual arts” category). I believe that I am the artist of my own life… “Life isn’t about
finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself,” as George Bernard Shaw once said. That is my unique perspective on life. So how do I apply this unique perspective on life?

I am fearlessly myself. Life comes with its fair share of challenges. Life is also very short. I can’t afford to waste it not being myself as nerdy and quirky as I am. I am confident
with myself and have full faith in my abilities.

I am adventurous! I want to learn as much as I can about the world around me. This makes me genuinely passionate about everything I do. From learning how to make balloon
animals to working at my wonderful internship, I always seek new challenges and opportunities to learn from. I am not afraid of making a few minor mistakes if I’m going to learn
from them.

I am very committed. A big part of my commitment to myself and others is being self-aware and making the best out of every situation I face. I love to work hard and am incredibly
driven.

However, being incredibly driven means that there have been moments where I have been incredibly self-critical and insecure. This was the case during the summer after my
sophomore year. It was at this time that I constantly felt like I wasn’t doing enough. This insecurity would lead to me being more selfish than I wanted to be and holding myself
back from reaching my full potential. But eventually, I overcame this self-doubt. I began focusing more and more on what I wanted to do with my life and being proud of myself for
doing just that. Simply, I took time to myself and learned self-love. Learning self-love has enabled me to also be more considerate of those around me. I still have a lot to learn, but
am now more confident and more passionate about learning and the people around me than ever before.

I am fearlessly myself, adventurous, and committed. Science is a way of life as it’s a way for me to create myself to be who I want to be. Through science, I can continue to
fearlessly be myself and be as nerdy and quirky as I want to be. Through science, I can continue to be adventurous and explore my passion and curiosity for the world by asking
questions and attempting to answer them through research. Through science, I can continue to commit towards a vision of the future by informing myself and those around me
through the use of research in developing new and useful technologies. Through science, I can continue to love myself and share that love with the world around me as I use science
for the common good.
How do you think your involvement in this category will enrich your life?
Science is a way of life as it’s a way of creating myself to be who I want to be. Science enriches my life because I can continue to be all the things that make me unique: fearless in
being myself, adventurous, and committed. But through experiences like being involved with my Red Cross group, I’ve also found passion in helping those around me. The truly
amazing thing about science is the fact that it can be used for the common good.

I always knew that science could be used for the common good, but I wasn’t able to fully realize it until my internship under Dr. Tony Butterfield and Dr. Kerry Kelly at the Chemical
Engineering Department at the University of Utah as well as my internship at the Matt Mulvey Pathology Lab. Through my experience as an intern at the Chemical Engineering
Department at the University Utah and at the Mulvey Lab at the University of Utah, I’ve learned that I want to do research as an adult. By developing the Building Block Air Quality
Sensor Teaching Module and working on the AirU Project, I was able to witness what research, especially engineering research, can do firsthand. Through my internship, I have
learned a lot about research and the importance of outreach to K12 students. Research can have amazing impacts on society and address relevant societal issues. By educating
students on the science of relevant issues, such as air quality, we can get them more engaged in solving the problem and becoming citizen scientists. The teaching module was able to
reach thousands of students and inform them on such a relevant issue such as air quality. And with the AirU Project as a whole, creating a live air quality map using citizen science
will help engage the whole community to be more informed on air quality and in solving the problem. Taking part of such a wonderful project and directly seeing how big of an
impact scientific research and outreach can make on the community has made me passionate about pursuing research in the future.

I absolutely love learning from other people and being able to share knowledge with other people. That is what I think science is all about: being curious, exploring the world, and
sharing that knowledge. The best part is the fact that this knowledge is everywhere; science is everywhere! Whenever I’m at my internship at the Chemical Engineering Department
or doing biology research in a lab as I did with the Bioscience Program, I don’t feel like I’m doing work because I’m having so much fun.

In the future, I want to use the power of research in the medical field and help develop new medical technologies as well as make new medical technologies affordable for those in
need through engineering. I also see myself as a surgeon in years to come and utilizing this new medical technology. Simply, I want to utilize the power of science to help people
and make a difference.
Supporting Attachment - Image
 Other Attachments and Links
Category Name Description
Url External URL Link This is a video I created for my internship class last year in Spring 2017. Open URL
Url External URL Link This is the website for the AirU Project which I have been very involved Open URL
in.