If undergraduate education was a
sport, you might think of Jason
Slaunwhite as an extreme athlete.
The junior with a double major in
physics and computer science and a minor in math peppers his conversation with the
kind of expressions you might expect from, say, a skateboarder at the edge: “bit
off more than I could chew” … “learned about my limits” … “out of my league.”
This winter, he's back at Union wearing
the intellectual bandages from a term last fall at the Swedish Royal Institute
of Stockholm (KTH), where he took on an upper graduate-level course in
mathematical modeling (“that I'm pretty sure I failed”), joined a research
project with a doctoral candidate (“learned a lot about what it takes”) and
even attended the Nobel Prize awards ceremony (“out of my league”).
Slaunwhite, a Union Scholar who hails from Baldwinsville,
N.Y., heard about David Haviland '83, a
nanotechnologist doing cutting-edge research at KTH, from Prof. Bill Thomas,
who has been close with Haviland since he was a student in Thomas's freshman
preceptorial. Thomas, as director of international programs, had long been
eager to explore the possibility of linking students with KTH. “Jason
was the ideal guinea pig,” said Thomas. “He's a Union Scholar, a physics-C.S.
major, and quite the amazing student. So off he went, and had a very
challenging experience, since David is really running a graduate program.”
Slaunwhite said he also had help from physics profs Jay Newman and Chris Jones
(emeritus), who also have kept in touch with Haviland.
Once there, Slaunwhite joined
Haviland's research in scanning probe microscopy, using an atomic force
microscope much like the one IBM donated to Union last year. (Slaunwhite worked with Prof. Seyfollah Maleki on the Union
instrument.) Besides a course in Swedish language and his self-described ill-fated
math course, Slaunwhite joined a Ph.D. student in a project to develop a
perfectly flat gold surface through a process called hydrogen flame annealing.
While he didn't optimize the process, he did have “mild success.” And he says
the experience taught him about the “consuming passion” it takes to be a
research scientist, something he may consider as a career.
Haviland who arranged tickets to the Nobel ceremony, a two-hour affair at which Slaunwhite thrilled
to see about a dozen of the world's top scientists, economists and writers
receive the honor of their lives from the King of Sweden. He was one of the few
Americans, and perhaps one of the only undergraduates to attend. His invitation was
addressed to “Professor Jason
Slaunwhite.”
Back at Union
this term, Slaunwhite has resumed his schedule, an ambitious combination of
classes and research projects.
“It's important for me to find out what is too much,” he said. “Projects take a long time. When I go to do my senior project, I'll take on a more reasonable project. I say that now … we'll see what happens next year.”
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