Eighth-grader steps into supercomputing

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
12/05/05

Hannah Tallan, 14, demonstrates her project in the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center’s Discovery Lab on Friday, Dec. 2, 2005.

Tallan is an eighth-grader at Chinook Montessori Charter School. As part of their final year at the school, each eighth-grade student participates in a week-long apprenticeship with a local professional.

Tallan spent a week at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center and learned to use Maya, a three-dimensional graphics program. During the week, she created a visualization of a room, which included a desk with a movable chair, pencils and a book.

"My favorite part of this model is this," Tallan said, as she pointed to a replica of the solar system suspended in midair on the 8-foot-high screen in the Discovery Lab, the brightly colored planets spinning around the yellow sun.

Tallan demonstrated her creation on Friday afternoon for an audience that included her family, teachers, ARSC director Frank Williams and UAF Chancellor Steve Jones.

Tallan’s mother, Barb Tallan, said her daughter hopes to study astrophysics after high school and enjoyed her time at ARSC.

"The whole group has made her feel like she belongs," she said. "She came home the other day and said she wanted to go to UAF."