CHEE Powers Science Fair Success

Ask and you shall receive: When Hannah Shoffner, a freshman at Empire High School in Vail, Arizona, emailed UA chemical and environmental engineering professor Armin Sorooshian for help with a science fair project on aerosols and cloud formation, she ended up with award-winning research – and a new mentor in doctoral student Joe Schlosser.

“Working with Hannah was fun because she was so motivated,” Schlosser said. “She worked hard and learned quickly – the code we were working with was pretty sophisticated, and she understood what it was doing. She was easy to mentor.”

After a first-place finish at her high school fair, Shoffner went on to the Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation science fair. There, she received a slew of further recognition, including a second-place Grand Award.

“Joseph is a top-notch mentor who took an amazing student under his wing and allowed her to showcase her creativity and talent to tackle a timely issue in Arizona: dust and its relationship with rainfall,” Sorooshian said. “They are both rising stars, and I am grateful to have received that first email from Hannah.”