THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
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Q&A: Student receives prestigious scholarship
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship was awarded to 40 students across the country, including senior Ryan Limbocker from
Ovenham Park This scholarship gives students the opportunity to pursue a postgraduate degree in any discipline at the University of Cambridge. Last year, Limbocker was a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship. The Kansas sat down to talk with Limbocker about his accomplishments and how he plans to spend his time in the United Kingdom when he moves there in October.
Limbocker
KANSAN: What is the Goldwater Scholarship that you received last year?
LIMBOCKER: It was a STEM scholarship enacted by Congress to recognize sophomores and juniors interested in science technology. They were looking for students who worked hard in the classroom while still doing research outside of school. KU nominated four people, and
after I was nominated. I had to submit a big application. I ended up winning and receiving $7,500.
KANSAN: What opportunities did that provide for you?
LIMBOCKER: I applied to some of the top U.S. analytical programs and I ended up getting into them. Before deciding on any, I found a lab at the University of Cambridge that seemed interesting, and that's how I discovered the Gates
scholarship
KANSAN: What was the lab?
LIMBOCKER: It involves studying the fundamental causes of protein aggregation responsible for amyloid plaque formation, which is pivotal in the development of Alzheimer's. I enjoy learning about chemistry bonds, so when I go to Cambridge, this is the lab I'll actually be participating in. I think this experience will prepare me extremely well to devote my career and passion to understanding how these diseases may be better understood.
ceived the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, what does that mean for you after you graduate this May?
KANSAN: Now that you've re-
LIMBOCKER: I'll be pursuing a Ph.D in chemistry at the University of Cambridge for the next three years, and that schooling is completely covered by the scholarship.
KANSAN: What kind of job do you see yourself having?
LIMBOCKER: I enjoy teaching and researching, so my end goal is to be a professor at a research institution like KU.
KANSAN: Are there any professors who have influenced you throughout your time here?
LIMBOCKER: Definitely. The first one is my research mentor, Dr. Michael Johnson. He's been so helpful in both teaching me how to work in a lab and deciding what career I want. There also my honors adviser, Mikhail Barybin. He's been my adviser the entire time I've attended KU, and he was a big part in me realizing how wonderful research is. He's also put up with me for four years.
Edited by Laura Kubicki
KATHRYN OSLER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brian Domonkos, left, the Colorado Snow Survey supervisor, takes notes while Mike Ardison, a hydrologic technician, takes a measurement of the snow at the Berthoud Summit Snotel area Jan. 30.
Colorado mountain snow is bright spot during drought
DAN ELLIOTT
Associated Press
DENVER — Snowpack in the mountain valleys, where the Colorado River originates was only a little below normal on Wednesday, marking one of the few bright spots in an increasingly grim drought gripping much of the West.
Measurement stations in western Colorado showed the snowpack at 90 percent of the long-term average.
By contrast, reporting stations in the Sierra Nevada range in drought-sticken California showed snowpack at 50 percent or less in early February, the most recent figures available. Some detected no snow at all.
Mountain snow in Colorado is closely monitored because a half-dozen Western waterways, including the 1,400-mile Colorado River, start in the area. The river and its tributaries supply water to millions of people in seven states and Mexico.
Much of the river comes from mountain snow that accumulates during winter and melts in the spring.
"It's looking pretty dismal over much of the West, but there are some areas where we're OK," said Mike Strobel, manager of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Snow Survey, which uses about 2,000 reporting stations in the western U.S. and some in Canada to measure snow.
Mountain snow depth usually peaks in early April across the West. However, it's unlikely many of the hardest-hit mountains will get enough precipitation by then to recover, Strobel said.
In the Pacific Northwest, warm temperatures have brought rain instead of snow, so the mountains aren't accumulating snowpack for the spring runoff, when farmers and water managers need water to irrigate crops and refill reservoirs.
It would take half the normal amount of snowfall between now and April to bring the statewide snowpack up to average, said Brian Domonkos, who supervises the snow survey in Colorado.
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