Conducting plant germination experiments at Yale has reaped awards for 15-year-old Brady Dunklee, a sophomore at Hamden Hall Country Day School. Last year, Mr. Dunklee garnered third prize at the Connecticut State Science Fair for his Yale-based work on plant mutations. This year, the continuation of that research earned the teenager the fair's top honor for his division.
"I didn't expect to win first place," says Mr. Dunklee, who on March 15 traveled to Connecticut College in New London to compete against about 30 other finalists whose experiments were selected from a total of over 450 submitted projects. The budding scientist attributes the success of his award-winning entry to the rapport that developed between himself and mentor Shing Kwok, a fourth-year graduate student in the department of genetics."Shing designed the whole process of the experiment," says Mr. Dunklee, who has been spending several hours after school two or three days each week at Osborn Memorial Laboratories developing the project.
The two were paired in late in 1994, when Mr. Dunklee was a student at West Hills Middle School. Paula Kavathas, a medical school faculty member and West Hills parent, was matching students at the middle school with Yale graduate students to collaborate on science projects. Mr. Dunklee's science teacher advised him to take advantage of the mentorship opportunity.
"Paula suggested I work with Brady," says Mr. Kwok, who had expressed an interest in working with New Haven youngsters. "It was something I wanted to do." Mr. Kwok describes Mr. Dunklee as "very bright" and "always willing to learn." In addition to helping him to get acclimated to a laboratory
environment, Mr. Kwok "taught me all sorts of lab techniques," says Mr. Dunklee. Among them were executing the delicate process of mixing chemical solutions "the most difficult part for me," says the teenager ; mastering the polymerase chain reaction -- or PCR -- the instrument that was used for DNA replication; and learning how to document data precisely.
The project began as an attempt to discover how plant seeds react to different types of light during the germination process. Normal development, which takes place in normal light conditions --
a process called photomorphogenesis -- is inhibited when seeds are grown in complete darkness, explains Mr. Kwok. Having last year demonstrated that seeds respond differently to red and far-red light during germination -- and walking away with third prize at the state fair as a result of his efforts -- Mr. Dunklee focused his work for this year's competition on locating the gene which produces the molecule that inhibits photomorphogenesis when plants are grown in the dark. Such experiments, which add to our knowledge of how plants perceive light and how that perception regulates a plant's development, can have widespread agricultural implications, says Mr. Kwok.
Mr. Dunklee, who stood alone before the judges and explained the entire process of the experiment, was critiqued on such elements as the experiment's scientific application, its timeliness and creativity, and his presentation. His first-place honor carried with it a $300 cash prize, an invitation to explain the project at a Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences dinner, and the opportunity to compete in an international science fair in Tuscon, Arizona, the week of May 4. He also received a graphic calculator -- a special prize from the Navy -- and an invitation to enter an upcoming science competition sponsored by the Navy.
Mr. Kwok, who plans a career in research and teaching, says he is proud of his protege and encourages Mr. Dunklee to apply his interest in science to other areas in addition to plants. Mr. Kwok adds that his experience with Mr. Dunklee "got me to think about how to explain" sometimes difficult scientific concepts in a clear and understandable manner.
"He's very good at that," comments Mr. Dunklee.