Student turns sand into rocks for AFCEC internship

  • Published
  • By Jess Echerri
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Kathleen Rish, a senior at Port Saint Joe High School in Port Saint Joe, Florida, finished an eight-week internship working with the research and acquisitions division of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Readiness Directorate here July 23.

"It's the first time we've had a student here for this amount of time," said Heather Luckarift, an AFCEC scientist. "It's incredible to have a high school student contributing to the AFCEC mission."

Rish spent her internship researching bio-cementation, a process that uses bacteria to harden sand into rocks.

Bobby Diltz, another AFCEC scientist, worked with Rish during the summer. Using bacteria with the enzyme urease, Rish was able to create rocks of varying hardness to support her research. The 16-year-old student presented her research to an audience of AFCEC scientists and engineers July 23. Her family and high school science teacher attended to show their support.

"She was very intimidated at first because she was around so many smart people," said Heather Jones, Rish's mother. "But now she realizes she's one of those smart people too. It's really helped with her confidence. We are very proud of her."

Rish said she hopes to be a scientist herself one day and that this experience has helped toward achieving that goal.

"I learned so much more than I thought that I could," Rish said. "It's opened up many different options I didn't even know existed. I'm so grateful I had this opportunity to be a part of AFCEC."

Scott Lamberson, the science department chair at Port Saint Joe High School and Rish's chemistry teacher, said he was impressed with the teen's research but wasn't surprised.

"She can do anything," Lamberson said. "She's unique in that she's a thinker. She works to understand the information, not just memorize it. There are no 'cheat codes' with her."

The bio-cementation research and data Rish compiled isn't going to waste. AFCEC scientists have been conducting similar experiments to solve problems related to sand in desert regions.

"Kathleen's project spins off other projects we've had here," said Diltz. "It could help with dust control and it has a future with runway repair or the set-up of future runways."

Rish's internship was part of AFCEC's science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, outreach program.