Sedonah Franzen, a freshman physics student at the University of South Dakota, was awarded one of eight Davis-Bahcall Scholarships at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Sanford Lab) in Lead, S.D.
Scholars in the program are South Dakota students entering their first or second year of college who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields and who have demonstrated leadership in their communities. Scholarship recipients attend a four-week summer program at the Sanford Lab, travel to two national laboratories in Chicago and to universities in Minnesota and Wisconsin and then to Italy for time at Gran Sasso National Laboratory. Because of precautions related the COVID-19 pandemic, students admitted to this summer’s program will be invited back to participate next year.
“I am looking forward to taking part in the program in summer 2021,” said Franzen, who is from Yankton and is completing her spring 2020 semester remotely from her home.
Franzen said she has always liked science but was especially intrigued by the study of physics, particularly astrophysics and nuclear physics.
“I’ve been interested in physics since my first physical science class,” she said. “I read that textbook cover to cover, and I’ve known since then that this is what I wanted to do.”
The Davis-Bahcall Scholarship, which is a joint effort between Sanford Lab and Black Hills State University, showed up on Franzen’s radar when she was a high school senior. When she found out she was too young to meet the age requirement of 18 years in her high school senior year, she filed away the opportunity for her college freshman year. “I had it in my back pocket,” she said.
Although Franzen will have to wait until summer 2021 to attend the program, she said she looks forward to the research opportunities offered and to seeing what day-to-day life is like for a scientist.
“I think that physics is a great career choice for me because I’ll be constantly learning about the subjects that interest me the most,” she said.
Sedonah was a member of the Superior High School Class of 2019 before having to leave halfway through her senior year because of family relocation to Yankton, S.D. She is in the USD Honors Program with a double major in applied physics and German with a double minor in mathematics and computer science. She was also on the Dean’s List with a 4.0 GPA.
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