The Astronomical League sponsors the National Young Astronomer Award (NYAA) to recognize the outstanding astronomical research achievements of high-school-age students throughout the United States. The application consists of a completed application form, a well-documented astronomy project of the applicant’s own work, a summary of astronomy-related activities, and optional exhibits. It is recommended that applicants be members of the Astronomical League, either through an astronomy club or a youth member-at-large membership. A team of professional astronomers judges the entries.
Past Winners:
1993
Blake Warren Thomas; Edgewood, New Mexico; “Spectrographic Analysis of Cepheid Pulsation”
1994
Stephanie C. Cinereski; Gainesville, Florida; “Solar Flare and Sunspot Research”
1995
Heather E. Castellano; St. Hedwig, Texas; “Elements of Impact Crater Formation”
1996
Mani S. Mahjouri; Columbia, Maryland; “Simulation of Charged Particle Motion in Jupiter’s Magnetosphere”
1997
Heather Cameron; Greenwich, Nova Scotia; “Solar Observation Station”
1998
Mary Dombrowski; Glastonbury, Connecticut; “Cataclysmic Stellar Variability with Eclipsing Binary Superimposition”
1999
Elizabeth Fernandez; Albuquerque, New Mexico; “Active Galaxies in the Perseus Supercluster”
2000
Patrick L. Kelly; Washington, DC; “The Color-Magnitude Relation in Hickson Compact Group 62”
2001
Susannah C. Lazar; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; “Performed Photometry of Many Asteroids”
2002
Albert King Lin; Fresh Meadows, New York; “A Survey of the public Chandra Data Archive (CDA) in Search of Serendipitous X-ray Pulsars: A Systematic Approach”
2003
Maxwell Cassady Moe; Fort Collins, Colorado; “Demographic and Atmospheric Effects on the Quality of the Night Sky”
2004
John Davis; Penfield, New York; “Built a Research Grade Observatory From Scratch”
2005
Christopher Limbach; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; “Light Curve Analysis of Eclipsing Binary Star EP Aurigae”
2006
- Mary Masterman; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; “Investigating Stars and Nebulae Through the Construction of an Astronomical Spectrograph.”
- Daniel Handlin; Lincroft, New Jersey; “An Empirical Determination of the Effect of Atmospheric Drag on Orbital Decay”
- Benjamin Jones; Helotes, Texas; “Achieving Equal Light Distribution: Creating Effective Outdoor Lighting Modifications: A Second Year Project”
2007
Naomi Pequette; Littleton, Colorado; “The Orion Nebula: A Good Contender for Housing an “Earth-like” Planet”
2008
John Hodge II; Columbia, South Carolina; “Light Curve Analysis of Cataclysmic Variable Star Systems: Cam Var 06, FS Aur, HT Cas, IP Peg, and EQ Aqr”
Honorable Mention: Lara Knorek; Kalamazoo, Michigan
Neil Pearson; Evergreen, Colorado
2009
- Harry Gaebler; Bloomington, Indiana; “A Study of the Correlation Between Spiral Galaxy Distance and Morphology Using both Redshift and Extended Object Photometry”
- Jordan Bramble; Virginia Beach, Virginia’ “Asteroid Research Using the Fan Mountain Observatory Rapid Response Robotic Telescope”
- Gayathri Cheran; Burke, Virginia; “A Study of the Abundance of Wolf Rayet Stars”
2010
- Andrew Hitchner; Norristown, Pennsylvania; “A Study in Stellar Spectroscopy”
- Tongji "Youyou" Li; Hershey, Pennsylvania; “Will Humans Become Extinct Like the Dinosaurs Did?”
- Erika Tinley; Tucson, Arizona; “The Geometry of Active Galactic Nuclei as Evidenced by Their Emission Line Spectra”
2011
1. Ben Clark; Lancaster, PA; "The Close Binary Fraction: A Bayesian Analysis of SDSS M Dwarf Spectra."
2. Travis Le; Honolulu, HI; "A Comparison Similar Planetary Systems of WASP-2."
2012
1. Justin Tieman; Blue Springs, MO; "Alien Worlds; Space Rocks."
2. Travis Le; Honolulu, HI; "Determining 'Hot Spots' through Correlations of CMEs and Solar Flares."
2013
1. Mark Morretto; Briarcliff Manor, NY; "Deep Impact Spectral Observations of Naturally Occurring Mini-Outbursts."
2. Henry Lin, Shreveport, LA; "Cool Bias in Sunyaer - Zel'dovich Galaxy Cluster Surveys."
2014
1. Pranav Sivakumar; Barrington, IL; "Morphological Identification of Wide-Separation Gravitationally Lensed Quasars."
2. Katie Shen; Sterling, VA; "Census of HII Regions in SDSS." Add her photo which is attached.
2015
1.Theodora Mautz; Portland, OR; "Investigating the Effects of Milky Way Globular Clusters' Galactocentric Distances on Their Rotational Velocities about the Galactic Center
2. Sydney Marler, Ridgecrest, CA, "The Effects of Interstellar Medium on the X-Ray Spectral Characteristics of Gamma Ray Bursts"