Prize Recipient

Elizabeth Henderson

Background:

Elizabeth Henderson is a graduate of the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, New York and now attends Amherst College. She finds physics compelling because it is a continually evolving mathematical model of the natural world  from subatomic particles to the universe itself. Elizabeth intends to obtain a PhD in physics so that she can contribute to the quest for the underlying logic and theoretical structure of different phenomena. She has done independent research on the historical development of particle physics, the origins of quantum physics, and the physics of music. Her AP physics project involved researching, constructing and operating a cloud chamber in order to observe and record the tracks of elementary particles, including muons and alpha particles.

Elizabeth is a National Achievement Scholar, a National Merit Commended Scholar, an AP Scholar with Distinction, a Ventures Scholar, a member of the National Society for the Gifted and Talented, and twice a regional gold medalist and a national finalist in the NAACP Olympics of the Mind (in Original Essay, physics; and Classical Music, piano). She was a top physics student and the recipient of the Best Writing Award at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Engineering, Engineering Summer Program. Elizabeth received academic honors, including Physics and Calculus, at the Horace Mann School. She was awarded the Artist Certificate upon graduating from the Honors Program of the Music Conservatory of Westchester. She has received numerous honors and awards at the district, regional, state, and multi-state levels in piano and flute, including the Yale Westchester Music Award.