A unique opportunity for high school students to work with some of the world's top optical scientists will culminate this week with presentations by 12 local students at a symposium at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE).

The students have spent eight weeks this summer working on individual research projects supervised by LLE's scientific staff. This week each student will have 10 minutes to present his or her research to family members, teachers, and members of LLE's scientific and technical staff. The 1999 Summer High School Student Research Symposium will be held from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 25, at the laboratory.

This is the eleventh year of LLE's program, which is intended to give students opportunities to work in a modern research environment under realistic conditions. The students were selected from more than 60 applicants. This year's participants are:

Kendra Bussey, Pittsford Sutherland High School

Michael Harvey, R.J. Davis High School

Peter Hopkins, The Harley School

Jyoti Kandlikar, Brighton High School

Brian Kubera, Webster High School

Aman Narang, The Harley School

Lutao Ning, Brighton High School

Rohit Rao, Brighton High School

Alice Tran, Spencerport High School

Jordan VanLare, Victor High School

Jeffrey Vaughan, Fairport High School

Emily Walton, Fairport High School

LLE is a major multidisciplinary teaching and research unit of the University.

The laboratory's principal research tool is Omega, the world's most powerful laser, which scientists use to study fusion, where atoms are joined together to create energy. Many scientists from other universities and U.S. national laboratories use the 60-beam laser to carry out a variety of other experiments.