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Sailing to Success The following article is based on an interview conducted by Iwanna Skarupa, president of the Ohio Regional Council, with the parents of young scientist Ulana Horodysky. Translated from Ukrainian by Ulana Hlynsky, UN WLA Liaison for Branches at Large, it is a story of exceptional achievement by a young woman who is sure to have an interesting and successful future. In the spring of 2003, student and graduate of Padua-Franciscan High School, 17-year old Ulana Horodysky, completed her research about solar sails. These sails are comparable to huge wafer-thin mirrors (approximately the size of a football field), which un der the appropriate angle to the sun can fly anywhere within the solar systems and beyond. All this can be achieved without the assistance of rockets. The ques tion arises as to why anyone would pursue the study of solar sails when rockets exit? One answer is that solar sails are far less costly. Secondly, rockets are heavy. They not only lift themselves, but also their fuel, whereas solar sails require only sunrays to provide motion and can therefore execute maneuvers not feasi ble for rockets. The solar sails, as a result, can travel constantly between planets, whereas rockets are re stricted by time. Ulana conducted her research under the direc tion of Dr. Robert L. Forward, a renowned astro physicist, author and pioneer in the area of solar sails. Utilizing the Internet and email, she collaborated with researchers in Scotland, France, and the United States. She dedicated her research to Dr. Forward who unfor tunately passed away in September 2002. Initially using elementary mathematical meth ods, Ulana developed her research to a point that en abled her to utilize a complex computer program through which she developed a 3-dimentional model ing of the orbital paths of a solar sail between Earth and Mars as well as other planets. For her work, Ulana was awarded the privilege of representing Ohio in four international competitions of Intel International Sci ence and Engineering Fairs (ISEF) and three National Junior Science and Humanities Symposia, which occur every year in various cities throughout the United States. At these events, Ulana received numerous awards and scholarships. While pleased with this rec ognition, Ulana feels that her most significant award was meeting astronaut Dr. Harison Schmidt, navigator of Apollo-17 and the last human on the moon. Dr. Schmidt, a judge at ISEF, personally examined here project. Ulana also had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Kathryn Sullivan—the first woman in space. Dur ing their conversation, a TV station camera crew ar rived and took Kathryn and Ulana to film a documen tary. The professional level of Ulana Horodysky's work also caught the attention of researchers and uni versity professors. In the course of four years, she pre sented her findings at NASA Jet Propulsion Labora tory in California, at the Marshall Space Flight Center at the University of Alabama, and at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Cleveland, Ohio. Because of her findings in the area of solar sail flights, the researchers of Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology awarded Ulana her own minor planet- asteroid, located between Mars and Jupiter. Last year, Ulana submitted a paper to the in ternational contest First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics. Her paper, entitled “Evolution in Motion: Orbital Op timization Using Genetic Algorithms,” won first place and was included in the “Proceedings of the Tenth In ternational Competition in Research Projects in Phys ics for High School.” In the spring of 2003, it was also published by the Institute of Physics in Warsaw, Po land. Other world organizations became interested in Ms. Horodysky's work. In the summer of 2002, Ulana became one of 21 students selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to conduct research in aeronautics with Korean stu dents and professors in the city of Taejon, South Ko rea. Their group was to build a miniature aircraft that could be utilized for accessing places not suitable for human penetration, tracking various important infor mation. During the summer of 2003, Ulana received a scholarship from Dr. Bessie F. Lawrence Summer Sci ence Institute for studies at the Weizmann Institute at Rehovot, Israel. Ulana conducted research on physics of the brain. Fifty students, including two other Ukrainians from Germany and Ukraine, participated in the Weizman Institute program. Besides studying, they had the opportunity to tour Israel, visiting the Hakar- mel resort on the Mediterranean, Eilat on the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, and the Masada Hill in the Judaean De sert. When it came time to prepare an entertainment item for a social evening, the three young Ukrainians sang “Shche Ne Vmerla Ukraina.” As a top student out of 260 graduates of Pa dua-Franciscan High School at Parma, Ohio, Ulana also won the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa award, was accepted into the National Society of High School Scholars, and was nominated to the All-USA Today ‘НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 2004 13
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