Name Erika 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."
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. At the program in Socorro, NM, just a short distance from where the asteroid was discovered, she had the opportunity to observe her namesake.
She enrolled at the California Institute of Technology in 2010.