Scientific success of talented Alness teenager
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A BRIGHT spark pupil from Alness Academy has earned a place at a prestigious science summer camp.
Amandeep Kainth (17) will be heading to the S’Cool Lab Summer Camp at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Geneva, Switzerland.
More than 1000 young people applied from all over the world for the 30 places up for grabs.
Amandeep was the only applicant from the UK to make the grade.
While on the two week long residential physics camp he can look forward to a diverse range of exciting activities ranging from particle detector workshops to particle physics data analysis.
The experience will also include visits to a number of different research facilities, such as the Compact Muon Solenoid detector.
Cern was founded in 1954 and is where many of the world’s most talented and respected physicists and engineers – from 22 different countries – work collaboratively to discover more about the structure and origins of the universe.
Achievements at Cern include the discovery of the Higgs Boson, known as the God Particle, which is a subatomic particle which had never previously been observed, and has been fundamental in increasing understanding of particle physics and the universe.
The internet was invented in 1989 at Cern by Tim Berners-Lee.
The aims of the organisation include working to understand the fundamental laws of nature, whilst getting everyone involved in different ways.
The summer camp incorporates these through a combination of hands-on and theoretical experiment work in a world-leading international research institution.
Students have the opportunity to collectively work scientifically, whilst applying their knowledge in a new environment, leading to their own discoveries.
Beth Brown, head teacher of Alness Academy, is delighted at Amandeep’s success in securing one of the much-coveted places.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for Amandeep and a huge achievement to be selected," she said.
"We are all tremendously proud although not surprised, as he always demonstrates commitment and enthusiasm in everything that he does."
Last summer Amandeep visited Cern as part of a family holiday where he took the opportunity to go on a guided tour.
It was this tour that inspired him to put himself forward for the summer camp experience, demonstrating the links between engineering and physics and how this link can advance understanding of the universe.
A true high flyer this is certainly not the first time that Amandeep has enjoyed the sweet taste of scientific success either.
As the North Star reported in January, he also has a national award for his superb work in geography to his name already.
He achieved a Scottish Association of Geography Teachers Award for getting 100 per cent in his Higher geography exams – joint top in Scotland.
Last year he made an Augmented Reality Sandbox – a 3D interactive platform for modelling geographical landscapes and features in real-time.
He presented this at the Celebration of Engineering and Science in 2016, leading to his Gold Crest Award.
This year he has also sent a raspberry PI computer to space (and back) to collect data and imagery.
He has also gained work experience at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre as well as attending a summer school at the University Of Oxford, leads a Raspberry Pi Programming course at his school and has helped roll out Google Apps for Education.
Sixth year student Amandeep plans to study mechatronics (mechanical, electrical and control engineering) at university from September.
