Caltech Student to Hobnob with Nobel Laureates

It's not often that a young scientist has the chance to sit down and schmooze with a bunch of Nobel Prize winners. Yet that's just what Sara Bernadine Klamo, a Caltech graduate student in chemistry, will soon be doing when she flies to Lindau, Germany, later this month.

Klamo is one of 38 U.S. doctoral students selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to attend the 51st convention of Nobel laureates in Lindau, June 25-29. The participants were selected from among students whose current research at their universities is funded by the DOE.

Klamo applied for the opportunity late last year. "The program seemed like a really wonderful chance to meet scientists from around the world, those both well established and just starting out," she says. "It's also a chance to learn about different areas of science, and to pick up a little foreign culture. So I gave it a try.

"In no other setting would I be able to hear all of these people lecture, and to participate in group discussions with them."

The gathering continues a tradition that began in 1951. Nobel laureates in chemistry, physics, or physiology and medicine convene annually in Lindau, to have open and informal meetings with more than 200 students and young researchers from around the world. The meetings rotate by discipline each year. This year's event will focus on physics.

Klamo and the other participants depart for an overnight flight to Zurich, Switzerland, on June 22. From there the group will transfer to buses for the 75-mile trip to Lindau. In addition to the interaction with the Nobel laureates, the participants will enjoy the picturesque island city of Lindau, which is located at the eastern end of Lake Constance, just north of the Swiss Alps. Located at the common border of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the medieval city is rich in central European culture.

The meetings with Nobel laureates begin on Monday with welcoming ceremonies and an evening dinner and gala social event. For the next three days, the laureates lecture during morning sessions on topics of their choice related to physics. The primary purpose of the meeting is to allow the participants—mostly students—to benefit from informal roundtable sessions. Each afternoon, students may approach any laureate, each of whom sits at a separate table. In the evenings, the laureates join small groups of participants for informal dinner discussions at hotels and restaurants in Lindau.

Friday, the participants travel by ferry to Isle of Mainau, and the baroque Mainau Castle, for the closing ceremonies.

Klamo received her bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Wayne State University in 1999. At Caltech, she is completing her second year of the program in chemistry. She is conducting research in organometallic chemistry under the Ph.D direction of Professor John Bercaw, the Centennial Professor of Chemistry and the Executive Officer for the Department of Chemistry.

The Oak Ridge Institute is administering the Lindau program for Science and Education (ORISE) for the Department of Energy. ORISE undertakes national and international programs in education, health surveillance, and the environment.