A junior physics student at Kansas State University is this year’s recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.
Blaine Fry, of Topeka, is one of 396 students in the nation to receive the scholarship awarded annually to those interested in research careers in engineering, mathematics or the natural sciences. Fry is mentored by Cortelyou-Rust University distinguished professor of physics Chris Sorensen. He is researching light scattering from fractal aggregates.
Fry’s work is specifically researching backscattering: the light that scatters back to the source. It can be very dim, making it hard to measure.
Fry says understanding things like soot from candles, forest fires and car engines can be useful for climate science and remote sensing applications.
The scholarship is $7,500 distributed annually.
