YSU Senior wins gold medal for research

The award was one of the top honors for young scientists, a YSU dean says.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Snowflake Kicovic, a Youngstown State University senior from Boardman, has won a gold medal at an international inventors festival in Yugoslavia
She was recognized for research she and a team of YSU students are conducting in semiconductor electronics.
"This is one of the most prestigious awards that a researcher or scholar can receive for his or her work," said Cynthia Hirtzel, dean of the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology.
"We are very proud of Snowflake. It's a great mark of distinction for YSU."
Physics, engineering majors
Kicovic, a 2001 Hubbard High School graduate majoring in physics and computer and electrical engineering, received the Nikola Tesla Award for Young Scientists in Research at the Tesla Fest 2004 in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.
The award is named after Nikola Tesla, a distinguished Yugoslav-American and a pioneer in many fields of electrical engineering and science.
"Undergraduates in physics rarely get to conduct research," said Kicovic, whose research is supervised by Tom Oder, assistant professor of physics and astronomy.
Special category
"Since I am only 20 years old and conducting very serious research, they didn't know what category to place me and a few other students in. So, they made a special category and called it Young Scientists in Research.
Kicovic's research was conducted in the Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Laboratory in Ward Beecher Hall at YSU and has to do with testing metallic conductors in environments of high power, temperature and frequency. Other YSU students involved in the research were Matt Crummel of Mineral Ridge, Pamela Martin of Warren and Loren Webb of Youngstown.
"It wasn't so much the gold medallion that made the experience memorable," she said. "Rather, it was the fact that I met a few other people of all ages in chemistry, electrical and mechanical engineering and physics who love to do the same thing I do -- research."
Kicovic said she plans to graduate from YSU in December 2005 or May 2006.