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The  2019 Team

TOM COLLINS

Head of Science Department, Project Advisor

Attended: Imperial College, London

Favorite Science: Anything to do with the 2nd Law...

 

Before going into teaching, Tom spent some time in different research fields including pharmaceutical design, biogeochemistry, and synthetic organic chemistry. Organic chemistry remains his passion and he is really pleased to have students here at Country Day that are willing to take it on. He has taught in schools on both sides of the Atlantic but has really found his home here in the US. He and his wife have two children who both attend Country Day. Outside of school, his interests include carpentry and ocean sailing.

BRITTANY LOTT, PhD

Chemistry Instructor, Research Advisor

Attended: Arkansas State University, University of Memphis 

Favorite Science: Physical Chemistry 

After graduate school, Brittany taught General and Physical Chemistry at Western Carolina University before moving to Charlotte and coming to Country Day. She loves teaching the dedicated students at Country Day and is excited to get back into the realm of scientific research--computational biochemistry was her research field as a doctoral candidate! At home, Brittany and her husband Alex have three young children and one silly, hairy dog. She loves to play outside, read science fiction, and watch comic book movies.

SC CALAME

Class of 2019

Attending: Washington and Lee University 

Favorite Science: Organic Chemistry 

During this project, SC started her work with WinCoot measuring bond angles, bond distances, and torsional angles by hand. SC then began working in the Ceramics studio drilling and gluing the 3D printed model. Finally, SC worked with her peers on designing the Team's website. Outside of the classroom SC enjoys playing lacrosse, surfing, and working on motorcycles.  

CAROLINE O'BRIEN

Class of 2019

Attending: Georgia Institute of Technology

Favorite Science: Chemistry

Caroline has taken many sciences courses at CCDS and enjoys applying them to this research class. As a part of the data collection team, Caroline assembled histograms using the bond lengths, bond angles, and torsional angles to ensure that the physical model is correct. Outside of class, she spends her free time playing lacrosse, piano, guitar, or volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House. Her favorite pastimes are playing 2048, watching Netflix, and playing with her dog, Sadie. Caroline is attending Georgia Tech next year and plans to major in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

DANIEL TIERNEY

Class of 2019

Attending: Idk

Favorite Science: Organic Chemistry 

 

Daniel Tierney is a lifer at Charlotte Country Day School who joined the team to appease his curiosity in biochemistry. Daniel constructs the models and hits print so he can construct the models. He is a three-sport varsity athlete who has been a captain on his cross country and swim teams. His free time is plagued by incessant guitar playing and trying to pick up licks and riffs from old blues artist like Clapton and King. An avid outdoorsman, Daniel hopes to trek the Appalachian Trail at some point and/or to kayak to Cuba, whatever comes first.

HANGLING LIU

Class of 2019

Attending: Vanderbilt University 

Favorite Science: Organic Chemistry

Originally from a beautiful town called Guilin in southern China, Hangling joined the Country day family in sophomore year and has loved it ever since. She loves exploring "why?" across different fields of Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Psychology. Hangling enjoys playing her traditional Chinese instrument called the erhu, swimming, running hurdles, and meeting new people. Her experience during sophomore year being a medical volunteer in rural Guatemala sparked her interest in Global Health and her vision for the development of a more culturally-appropriate nutritional cream. Hangling will be attending and plans to major in 

JEFF (XIANGCHI) HOU

Class of 2020

Attending: Charlotte Country Day

Favorite Science: Physics 

 

Born in Dalian, China, Jeff moved to Charlotte and joined Country Day Community in ninth grade. After studying some science classes in country day, such as physics, chemistry, and computer science, Jeff developed interests in Physics and data science. With strong passion and some basic knowledge background, Jeff joined the CCDS Biochemistry Team in his junior year. In the research, Jeff mainly focused on 3D Modeling using Fusion 360 and data collected from Wincoot team. For the future, Jeff will keep contributing to the research team and further develop his interests in science world. Also, since Jeff is a Junior now, he has no idea what college or major he will be in.

AISHWARYA SHARMA

Class of 2019

Attending: 

Favorite Science: Organic Chemistry  

Throughout her high school career, Aish has taken an abundant and diverse range of science and math courses. She chose to participate in this project because she wanted to apply her knowledge from Organic Chemistry, Physics, and Biology to successfully model the amino acid, proline. Aish was a part of the data collection and the assembly team. Outside of the classroom, she leads an anti-domestic violence club and plays golf, lacrosse, and dances. She also enjoys laughing at pretty much anything and can recite almost any line from The Office. 

GUS BENSON

Class of 2019

Attending: Williams College

Favorite Science: Neuroscience

A bona-fide renaissance man, Gus contributes to the research process as magnet-gluing commissioner, drill press virtuoso, cura wiz, Daniel's 3D printing sidekick, and primary entertainer of Tom Collins. Gus is a maverick among the group-- the sole C block researcher and IB scholar-- but he thoroughly enjoys quality together time during weekly group meetings. When he isn't talking socialism with TC and painting amides, Gus wears vintage air pods (regular earbuds) and angstily jams out to soft jazz. Gus plans to double major in cognitive neuroscience and music in college.

MARCUS WOODS

Class of 2019

Attending: Yale University 

Favorite Science: 

Marcus Woods is a god and everyone wants to be him. 

KATIE BATTEN

Class of 2019

Attending: Washington University in St. Louis 

Favorite Science: Biology 

 

Katie Batten has been at Country Day since fifth grade and has delved into the science world from the beginning. With aspirations to be a pediatric surgeon, Katie pushes herself to excel in the classroom. When not studying, Katie plays basketball, softball, and volleyball. She is the co-president of Science Club and participate in Big Brothers Big Sisters. She likes to watch Grey's Anatomy, read books, and mountain bike. Katie will be attending WashU in the fall, where she will major in biology and minor in Spanish while on the Pre-Med track.  

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