Prize Recipient

Brandon Turner
Wake Forest University

Background:

Defining home has always been difficult for meIve lived in over 8 different states over the course of 19 years. I currently live in California (though I attend school at Wake Forest University in North Carolina). My constant shifting from region to region as a child instilled in me an unvarying desire to learn new things and to connect my experiences with those from other places or cultures that Ive previously experienced. In academics this same desire to explore and understand my environments through shared underlying principles has driven me to physics. Here seemingly disparate elements of the world from atoms to black holes revealed a beautiful underlying organization whose characteristics could be illuminated and prodded using physics. Though the application of physics to biological macromolecules has been the topic that has seized my attention the most, Ive always reveled in the opportunity to learn from all the science disciplines. Science, especially physics, permeates every aspect of our lives and the things we love and depend on. My hope is that I may share my love and passion for science with todays youth by demonstrating the ways that it can be not only instructive but exciting!