64th Annual STS (2004-2005)
Finalists
Ian Robert Haken

TEXAS
Ian Robert Haken, 18, of Plano, submitted a chemistry project to the Intel Science Talent Search. Computational chemistry is a new and growing field of study that determines chemical properties and atomic structures by investigating solutions to the Schr”dinger equation, a wave equation used to describe the behavior of atomic particles in quantum mechanics. One common use of computational chemistry is to observe the vibrational frequencies of various molecules and apply density function theory (DFT), which typically overestimates fundamental frequencies. Ian developed multiplicative scaling factors to counteract this overestimation and to reduce the overall error in the approximations made when solving for these chemical properties. Ian is a member of the math club and band at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton. A flute player and former drum major, he is interested in music theory which he pursues along with an interest in cryptology. As a sophomore, he participated in the National Anti-Defamation League's Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. The son of Fiona Haken and the late Dr. Roger Haken, Ian hopes to study math at Stanford and perform research.