Erika Alden DeBenedictis
Erika Alden DeBenedictis (born 1992) is an American computer scientist. DeBenedictis attended Saint Pius X High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In 2007 her computer science project won second prize in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair."[1]
In 2000 a main belt asteroid was named after her. The asteroid, 23131 Debenedictis was discovered on 5 January 2000 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research Team in Socorro.
In 2008, she further became connected to asteroids when she attended the Summer Science Program, which teaches astronomy through a curriculum based on asteroid observations and orbital calculations.[2] At the program in Socorro, NM, just a short distance from where the asteroid was discovered, she had the opportunity to observe her namesake.[3]
She enrolled at the California Institute of Technology in 2010.[4]
References
- ↑ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". NASA. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
- ↑ Renteria, Roger (July 18, 2008). "A Day in the Life of SSP Students, July 18, 2008". New Mexico Tech.
- ↑ http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/krisciunas/erika.html
- ↑ "Glamour's 20 Amazing Young Women: Erika DeBenedictis, Winner of Intel's Science Talent Search". Glamor. 22 November 2010.