Vol. 19, No. 28

April 20, 2000

Engineering junior receives Goldwater Scholarship

Jennifer M. Buckley of Wilmington has been awarded a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. More than 1,700 college students applied nationwide for the 309 scholarships awarded this year. The awards cover the entire cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to $7,500. A junior mechanical engineering student with a 4.0 grade point average, Buckley grew up in her parents' Ninth Street Bookstore. As the first scientist in a family of English majors she has an irreverent sense of humor and says she has endured a lot of teasing from her politically liberal relatives over the "Republican" nature of the scholarship–something she is very willing to endure. Buckley has conducted research on the fracture of nonhomogeneous materials, supported by the National Science Foundation and UD's Science and Engineering Scholars Program. An athlete who rows on the UD crew team and participates on Team Delaware Cycling, Buckley said she hopes to compete in a triathlon or biathlon this summer. "I think my athletics complement my academics," she said. "Balance is important. I'd be even more of a psychopath about my schoolwork if I didn't have athletics to bring me down a notch. I'm able to get everything done and still maintain my sanity because of my family. They give me a lot of support. I'd be a real mess without them!" Those family members, all with UD ties, include Buckley's father, James J. (Jack) Buckley, who graduated from UD in 1970 with a degree in English from the College of Arts and Science; her mother, Gemma Marsilii Buckley, who also earned her degree from UD, graduating in 1971 from what was then the College of Education; and brother Matthew, who is currently a sophomore at UD, majoring in civil engineering. Ajay K. Prasad, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UD, said, "Outstanding students like Jenni appear perhaps only once every five years. Her performance in my course was the best. She is an instructor's ideal student because she interacts very well in the class, always has her hand up to answer a question and asks probing questions. Her homework and exams are textbook quality in their clarity of presentation, rigor of mathematical analysis and precise and elegant engineering drawings." Richard L. Braun, mathematical sciences, agreed, calling her "the best undergraduate that I have taught in my four and a half years at the University of Delaware. "She is alert and very bright; any question that she asks either in or outside of class is guaranteed to be a good one," Braun said. Michael Santare, mathematical sciences, who supervised Buckley's research, said, "Jennifer is one of the two or three most intelligent and self-motivated undergraduate students I have ever come across." In describing her research, Buckley said, "Beginning in the winter of 1999, I worked with a team of professors and graduate students conducting research in the field of fracture mechanics. The project focused specifically on the fracture behavior of continuously nonhomogeneous materials (CNM). Such materials are found in plant and animal tissue as well as adhesive layers and matrix regions of fiber-reinforced composites. "My work during the winter of 1999 involved synthesizing CNMs with specifically engineered material property gradients. After synthesis, I tested these functionally graded materials (FGM) to ensure that the correct property gradient had been achieved. During the summer of 1999, I used digital imaging techniques to analyze the fracture behavior of FGM and developed a more accurate method for measuring the elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio of these materials. I am currently studying the correlation between the elastic modulus of a polymer FGM and its microhardness. Hopefully, this work will lead to a faster, more accurate method for determining the material property gradient of an FGM." Buckley said she got interested in engineering because she enjoys problem solving. "Mechanical engineering offers you a chance to problem solve in a variety of fields–a little electronics, a little fracture analysis. I chose mechanical engineering because I wanted to be exposed to many different fields of study." A self-described homebody, Buckley said she wants to stay in the area for graduate school and is considering the University of Pennsylvania. For the summer, she will be working for the DuPont Co. in its engineering consulting division, possibly doing troubleshooting at nylon plants. Buckley is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Tau Beta Phi National Honor Society, Golden Key Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She is a Delaware Engineering Society/DuPont Scholarship recipient, a Society of Women Engineers National Scholarship recipient, a National Science Foundation grant recipient, a UD Science and Engineering Scholar and a dean's list student. She was a finalist for Wendy's High School Heisman Award and was the valedictorian for the class of 1997 at Dickinson High School. The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The Scholarship Program honors Senator Barry M. Goldwater and was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. –Beth Thomas