Fifteen students from area high schools will present the results of their physics research at the 2005 Summer High School Student Research Symposium, on Aug. 24. The symposium concludes the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) Summer High School Research Program, where students spend eight weeks working on individual research projects supervised by LLE's scientific staff.

This represents the 17th year of LLE's program, which provides a unique opportunity for highly motivated students to work in a modern research environment under realistic conditions. The students were selected from approximately 60 applicants.

This year's participants are: Mary Brummond and Karyn Muir of Honeoye Falls-Lima; Alex Grammar, Lauren Weiss, and Rosie Wu of Brighton; Brian MacPherson and Brian Pan of Penfield; Philip Chang of Pittsford Sutherland; Brandon Corbett of Allendale Columbia; Adam DeJager of Greece Odyssey; Frank Fan of Webster Schroeder; Stewart Laird of Harley; Nicholas Ramos of Palmyra-Macedon; Valerie Rapson of Greece Olympia; and Martin Wegman of McQuaid.

LLE is a major multidisciplinary teaching and research unit of the University of Rochester, and is the only laser facility of its kind at any American college or university. The primary research focus at LLE is the area of laser-driven fusion. The laboratory's principal research tool is Omega, a 60-beam, ultraviolet-wavelength, 30-kilojoule laser system—the world's most powerful fusion laser. Many scientists from U. S. national laboratories also carry out experiments on Omega.

To learn more about the program and to obtain directions to the symposium, contact Jean Steve at (585) 275-5286 or Stephen Craxton at (585) 275-5467.