Ovation for Nicole Benker

 profile image

An Ovation for

Nicole Benker

Student worker
Department of Physics and Astronomy

May 2018

“Ms. Nicole Benker is one of the outstanding undergraduates, in physics, here at the University of Nebraska. Ms. Benker has gone above and beyond the call of duty, on our solar neutron detection project, taking on a leadership role in getting our package ready for the international space station. Her work has been praised by the funding agency and NASA officials, including the overall project integration manager for the project Dr. Scott Whitehead (NASA). Without her, I do not think we would have been able to get as far as we have with this NASA helioastronomy project. It is she who made the project presentation to the NASA flight review and safety panel and dealt with a myriad of administrative details, basically taking charge. It is because of her that the project will be an outstanding success, measuring the steady state neutron flux and energy for the first time since predictions were made in 1951. She has been extremely successful in our radio telescope project as well. She has, in fact, carried out a number of measurements in a variety of different areas and collaborated with scientists and faculty in a number of disciplines, including a large number of chemists. This had led to great advances in printable solar cell technology. Overall, she is a very impressive student and we should award her an Ovation! ”