Posted: February 11, 2005

About the Winners
Jason Black is a senior at Granada High School (GHS) who will be attending Brigham Young University in the fall. Recently named by GHS as student of the month for December 2004, Jason’s list of academic achievements and extracurricular activities is long and impressive. In addition to being a National Merit finalist, Jason got a perfect score on the ACT test, maintained straight A’s with honors classes, served as student body treasurer, performed with the jazz band at Wente Vineyards and at the Reno jazz festival, and recently got his Eagle Scout award.

Jason’s first connection with Sandia was at the 2001 Go Figure Math Challenge, where he received one of the first place standings. In 2003 and 2004, he continued his streak of first place finishes at the math challenge—another amazing accomplishment! Jason interned at Sandia last summer under the mentorship of Eilene Cross in the Microsystems Processing department.

Guy Pavel is also a senior at GHS who will be graduating this summer. Guy was among five others from GHS who were recently named National Merit finalists. Aside from his mathematics prowess, Guy enjoys playing the violin, ping-pong, ultimate frisbee, and a multitude of video games.

Like Jason, Guy was introduced to Sandia through the Go Figure Math Challenge. In 2003, Guy received an honorable mention award for his participation in the math challenge. Last summer, Guy interned at Sandia under the mentorship of Helen Chen in the Scalable Computing R&D department.

About the National Merit Scholarship
The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)—a test that serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.3 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements.

Of the 1.3 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores will qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program. Of the 50,000 high scorers, about 34,000 will receive letters of commendation, while the 16,000 will qualify as semi-finalists. Of the 16,000 semi-finalists, 15,000 will advance to the finalist standing. Of the 15,000 finalists nationally, 8,200 will be selected to receive a National Merit Scholarship® award.

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About Their Work at Sandia
As a Sandia intern, Jason constructed a detailed cost model of the LIGA micromachining process in order to get a cost per wafer. When asked, “What interests you most about what you are doing at Sandia?” Jason responded, “I enjoy this job because I get a chance to learn about all of the scientific process involved, to interact with all of the people who do the process, to visit many of the laboratories where the work is performed, and to put all of the numbers together to find out how much it all costs.” Check out Jason’s intern spotlight to learn more about his interests, career aspirations, and internship experience at Sandia.

Last summer, Guy spent his summer at Sandia working on several projects dealing with cluster computing. Cluster computing is the process of taking numerous small computers and combining them to create a single, powerful computer. One project he worked on was developing a website for Open InfiniBand. Take a look at Guy’s intern spotlight to learn more about him and what he did while he was at Sandia.

Congratulations, Jason and Guy!