Two TAMS students have promising year ahead

The new year is shaping up well for two young people involved with the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. One graduated from UNT in December at the age of 17. The other has been offered an internship with NASA, thanks to a virtual reality glove he developed to aid astronauts.

At the age when most students look forward to entering high school, Laura Cullen of Keller was moving into a university residence hall and taking freshman- and sophomore-level college courses.

In December, when most 17-year-olds were still waiting to hear if they were admitted to their first-choice universities, Cullen became a college graduate.

Cullen received a bachelor of arts degree with a double major in English and history during UNT's fall commencement ceremony Dec.16, less than two weeks after turning 17.

She entered TAMS in August 1997. The two-year residential program allows students to complete their freshman and sophomore years of college while earning their high school diplomas. Students enroll in the academy after completing their sophomore year in high school, live in a UNT residence hall and attend classes with college-age students. After two years, they enroll at UNT or another university to finish their bachelor's degrees.

Most students are 15 or 16 when they enter TAMS. Cullen, who completed her sophomore year of high school while still an eighth-grader, was 13. She was one of the youngest students ever enrolled in the program.

"It never really bothered me that I was younger," she says. "Most of the time, students in my classes didn't know that I was younger, and if they knew, they were still pretty nice about it."

Cullen began reading at age 2 and would read magazines out loud to her mother by age 6, telling her what she thought about the articles.

Her family lived in Bedford before moving to Keller. During the 1996-97 school year, Cullen was enrolled at Bedford Junior High School, but she was taking many classes at L.D. Bell High School.

The high school classes still weren't challenging enough for her.

"At the time, I wanted to be an astrophysicist. In another year, I would have taken all of the math courses that L.D. Bell offered, so I needed to go somewhere where I could be more challenged," Cullen says. "Since I was interested in math and science, TAMS seemed right."

Although living away from home and taking college courses "took some getting used to," Cullen did well academically at TAMS. She was involved in the TAMS Debate Club, Dull Roar Music Society and the Academy Ambassadors, which help recruit prospective TAMS students. She conducted polymer research in a UNT professor's laboratory during her first semester and was named a National Hispanic Scholar and National Merit Semifinalist her second year at TAMS.

Cullen was also featured in a documentary on the education of gifted and talented students that was broadcast on Asahi National Broadcasting, one of the major networks of Japan.

When she entered TAMS, Cullen planned to finish her bachelor's degree at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., majoring in physics. But that plan changed after she took her required world literature and American history classes.

"I became fascinated by them," Cullen says. "I'm particularly interested in Spanish art and literature."

After graduating from TAMS in May 1999, Cullen decided to move home to Keller and finish her bachelor's degree in English and history at UNT. She was a member of Sigma Tau Delta English honor society, Phi Alpha Theta history honor society and Golden Key honor society.

She now plans to earn a master's degree in English or history, teach at the secondary level and possibly go on to earn a doctoral degree.

Cullen says she would never have achieved a college degree at age 17 if she had not enrolled in TAMS.

"TAMS tries to encourage its students to go into math and science careers, but even though I didn't do that, the program still helped me decide what to do," she says. "Taking challenging classes helped me stay focused on the future, instead of just floating by as I would have done in high school. It was a great experience."

While Cullen was preparing for her final fall semester as a UNT undergraduate, fellow TAMS student Chris Ezell was literally getting some hands-on experience at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Now his work may be used aboard the International Space Station to help astronauts experience the sensation of touch in a virtual reality environment.

During a summer internship at NASA's Johnson Space Center, the 18-year-old Ezell of Bridgeport, designed a glove that contains several air pockets,called bladders.

The bladders will compress and decompress when the wearer reaches for an object so he or she will have the sensation of grasping the item.

"Right now, if you reach behind you in virtual reality and try to grab something, you won't know if you actually have it until you look to see it," Ezell says. "There have been different mechanisms designed to give the sense of touch in virtual reality, but most of them are like medieval torture devices. The glove is a much simpler device to give feedback about touch."

Ezell is a second-year student at TAMS and was one of five TAMS students awarded $2,500 grants for eight-week unpaid internships at the Johnson Space Center last summer. He was assigned the glove project by NASA engineer Chris Lovchik, and he worked up to 15 hours a day, and many weekends, to develop it.

"It was just an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I've always wondered what it is like to work at NASA," Ezell says. "I was there for only a short time, so I wanted to make my research count. When I finally got to run a simulation of the glove on the computer, it was great."

NASA presented Ezell with a certificate recognizing him for "a tremendous amount of work in a short amount of time" and invited him back for a paid internship next summer.

"I want to continue to work on some variant of this glove. It's awesome to realize that the project is proposed to work on the International Space Station," he says.

Ezell says he has been interested in science, and particularly computers, from a young age. At age 10, he bought a book on HTML web design with money given to him by his visiting grandmother.

"My siblings bought music CDs and other stuff, and they made fun of me," he says.

By age 14, Ezell had designed both a corporate web site and a site for Bridgeport High School. He soon started his own company, Ezell Web Design, which has paid for most of his expenses at TAMS. Ezell is currently a subcontractor for North Texas Web Service and is working on five sites.

He credits Bridgeport High School's University Interscholastic League science team with strengthening his interest in science.

"I started doing UIL in seventh grade, and Bridgeport has won the sweepstakes several years in a row," he says. "It was fun, but I wanted to come to TAMS for bigger opportunities. It's a very successful atmosphere. If I had stayed in high school, there was no way I could have worked for NASA."

At TAMS, Ezell is in the Resident Computer Consultants, which provide computer support to TAMS students and UNT students in other residence halls. He is also in the Robotics Club and the Academy Ambassadors, and he is an academic tutor. He plans to work in the laboratory of David Golden, Regents Professor of physics, next semester, designing flat panel televisions with higher efficiencies.

After graduating from TAMS in May, Ezell plans to finish his bachelor's degree at Georgia Tech University, majoring in mechanical and electrical or computer engineering. He plans to work as a researcher in applied robotics.

Other featured articles in this issue

• Retired football coach Gene Stallings joins UNT as athletics consultant
• Updates from the president
• Campus construction continues
• Physics professor works to improve accuracy
• Weather closing information
• New state rep speaks at Fall 2000 commencement
• UNT beats SECC $100,000-goal by $28,172
• Network set to accommodate students