[Photo credit (above): Geoff Crimmons, Moscow-Pullman Daily News; Pullman High School junior Hongyeoul Park, above, mixes nickel nitrate under the supervision of Washington State University doctoral student Jake Gray. Gray was Park’s mentor during a summer internship through the American Chemical Society’s Project SEED.]
By Taylor Nadauld, Daily News staff writer | Published at the Daily News on September, 28 2017
When 16-year-old Pullman High School student Hongyeoul Park began a summer research project with Washington State University chemists to investigate the efficient conversion of methane into fuel, he did so with just one uninspiring year of high school chemistry under his belt.
“Chemistry did not spark any more interest in chemical engineering,” Park said Tuesday, “but when I first heard about the research they were doing and how this research can somehow lead to making our environment a better place, I kind of felt intrigued.”
Park was chosen this past summer to participate in the American Chemical Society Project SEED summer research program, a program that gives economically disadvantaged high school juniors and seniors the chance to work on research projects in laboratories alongside experienced scientists and mentors…