64th Annual STS (2004-2005)
Finalists
Abigail Ann Fraeman

MARYLAND
Abigail Ann Fraeman, 17, of Olney, submitted a space science project to the Intel Science Talent Search based on the recent discovery of a water vapor cloud around a star, called IRC +10216. Current research suggests that the cloud results from photodissociation of water from the surface of orbiting comets. Abigail proposed that the reason these orbiting comets are clustered and unevenly distributed is due to the presence of an unseen Jupiter-sized planet that is also orbiting the star. She created a C++ computer simulation to investigate whether or not such a planet could create an asymmetric system around the star, and she concludes that it could. At Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Abigail plays violin and heads the forensics team. Abigail, an avid fencer, has competed in the junior Olympics and national fencing championships, and also enjoys acting and music. Last year, she was one of only 16 international student astronauts selected for a ten-day assignment inside Mars Exploration Rover mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The daughter of Martin and Kathy Fraeman, Abigail one day hopes to become a field geologist on the moon or Mars.