A Kamehameha Schools Hawaii senior was surprised Monday with a $10,000 scholarship to pursue a degree in astrophysics at Yale University.
Ciana-Lei Bence, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools this year, is a member of the Maunakea Scholars program, a partnership by the Maunakea Observatories and the state Department of Education that pairs students at participating Hawaii high schools with astronomer mentors to develop research projects and grant them the opportunity to use the Maunakea telescopes to observe space.
“Before, I was interested in philosophy and anthropology, because I wanted to learn more about where we all came from,” Bence said. “But I started to lean toward astronomy, because that’s where all that started.”
Mentored by Doug Simons, the director of the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, Bence entered the East Hawaii District Science and Engineering Fair earlier this year with an ambitious project: “It was investigating the mass evolution patterns of active galactic nuclei,” she said.
Bence used the W. M. Keck Observatory to observe a distant quasar in conjunction with a host of archival data from several observatories. By analysing the spectrography of distant galaxies, Bence hoped to find evidence that would bolster theories for the M-Sigma relation, an observed correlation between the mass of galactic supermassive black holes and the velocities of the stars surrounding them.
On the strength of that project — which won first place in the fair’s Physics and Astronomy division — Bence was invited to participate last month in the International Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s largest high school science fair.
In recognition of her performance, Hilo Rep. Richard Onishi presented Bence a certificate of achievement Monday, calling her a “shining beacon of inspiration” for Hawaii students.
But Simons shocked Bence with another certificate: the Maunakea Scholars’ Hokuala Scholarship, a $10,000 award for the top-performing seniors in the program who are pursuing an astronomy-related college degree.
“It’s a testament to the really hard work (she’s done),” Simons said, adding that Bence’s speed at picking up complicated concepts is extraordinary.
Simons suggested that the results of the project could end up being professionally published, as other Maunakea Scholars’ work has been.
“She’s been racking up awards for now,” Simons said. “Getting published can wait.”
Bence said she will attend Yale University in the fall in the hopes of eventually obtaining a doctorate in astrophysics.
“I’m really excited,” Bence said. “I met a lot of cool people when I visited (Yale). … There’s a big Native Hawaiian community there, and other Native American groups, too. It felt a lot like home.”
Meanwhile, Simons said that the Maunakea Scholars program is nearing its 1,000th student participant this year, and Onishi said he hopes to work with the state Legislature to pursue additional funding for the program.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.