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founded by Stony Brook University and Battelle

News Release

Number: 03-58
Released: July 29, 2003
Contact: Diane Greenberg, 631 344-2347 or Mona S. Rowe, 631 344-5056

Columbia University Student Wins Chasman Scholarship

UPTON, NY -- Hyekyung Clarisse Kim, a student at Columbia University, has won the 2003 Renate W. Chasman Scholarship for Women. Brookhaven Women in Science, a not-for-profit organization at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, awards the scholarship annually to encourage women to pursue careers in science, engineering or mathematics.

Named after the late Renate Chasman, a renowned physicist who worked at Brookhaven, the $2,000 scholarship is awarded each year to a re-entry woman – one whose college education was interrupted, but who has returned to pursue a degree on a half time or greater basis.

Hyekyung Clarisse Kim (center), winner of the 2003 Chasman Scholarship, is pictured with Loralie Smart, Brookhaven Women in Science Scholarship Coordinator, and Ralph James, Brookhaven¹s Associate Laboratory Director for Energy, Environment & National Security, and a major contributor to the Chasman Scholarship fund. [ Click on image to download hi-resolution, 300-dpi jpeg. ]

At W. Tresper Clarke High School in Westbury, Kim was an accomplished student and leader. Despite suffering from depression, she was fourth in her class, and she formed the Strings Chamber Ensemble and helped to establish a chapter of the American Red Cross in her community. She also volunteered in a soup kitchen, nursing home and hospital.

Kim started her undergraduate career at Columbia University in 1997, but after only two days as a freshman, she took medical leave due to severe depression. For two years, Kim immersed herself in activities about which she cared deeply, which helped her overcome her depression. During her leave, she volunteered at a women’s shelter, studied astronomy and math, and resumed playing the piano and violin.

After she returned to Columbia, Kim organized a group for women in physics, which includes a mentoring program for young women physicists. She has taken a leadership role in Columbia’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students, organizing informal weekly dinners alive with discussions of physics courses and current research projects at Columbia. Kim has recently received the Society of Physics Students Leadership Scholarship.

Kim is working this summer as an intern at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. She expects to graduate in May 2004 with a B.S. in physics and mathematics, and she intends to earn her Ph.D. in experimental high energy particle physics.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also builds and operates major facilities available to university, industrial, and government scientists. The Laboratory is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited liability company founded by Stony Brook University and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.