Hope College senior Katherine Drake of Rochester Hills has been named to the 1998 All-USA College Academic Team by "USA TODAY."
Drake, who was named to the publication's "Second
Team," was one of only 115 college and university students
nationwide included in the listing, which named 20 students
each to First, Second or Third teams, and 55 Honorable
Mentions. Those recognized were listed in the newspaper's
Friday, Feb. 13, 1998, issue.
"USA TODAY" described the team as a salute to "the
best and the brightest" students at America's colleges and
universities. The 10 judges who chose the students
considered grades, academic awards, leadership roles and
public service. There were 1,194 nominees.
Drake is a chemistry, mathematics and physics
triple major at Hope. The publication cited the time she
has spent conducting research on parallel plate avalanche
counters at the National Superconducting Cyclotron
Laboratory, in a collaboration between Hope College and
Michigan State University, as one of her achievements.
Her primary academic and research interest is in
the blending of chemistry and physics. She has been working
with other researchers in nuclear chemistry/nuclear physics
at Hope since her freshman year.
Recognition for her work has included the
college's freshman chemistry and physics awards, the John H.
Kleinheksel Mathematics Award and the Junior Chemistry
Journal Award. She is a member of the college's chapter of
Mortar Board, as well as the campus mathematics and physics
honorary societies.
In the early spring of 1997, Drake received a
Goldwater Scholarship for the 1997-98 academic year, one of
only 11 students native to Michigan and 282 nationwide to
receive one. In April of 1997, she was one of only 40
students from around the nation to participate in a Council
on Undergraduate Research (CUR) poster session research
presentation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
She is the daughter of Michael and Ann Drake of
Rochester Hills. She is a 1994 graduate of Rochester High
School.
Hope was one of only three schools from Michigan
to have a student named to the 1998 All-USA College Academic
Team. The others were Michigan State University (Honorable
Mention) and the University of Michigan (Second Team).
This is the third time that "USA TODAY" has named
a Hope senior to its "All-USA College Academic Team" since
the program's inception in 1990. The previous two Hope
honorees received "Honorable Mention" recognition: Jennifer
Haskin in January of 1990, and Anna-Lisa Cox in February of
1994.