Vision Fulfilled: Davis-Bahcall Scholars excel at careers in STEM
Two former Davis-Bahcall scholars reflect on the value of the scholar program in inspiring success in their STEM careers today.
This week, the latest cohort of Davis-Bahcall scholars begin their summer program at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF). Over the next month the scholars will take part in a once-in-a-lifetime, all-expense-paid opportunity that connects science-curious students with peers and mentors while exploring the modern world of STEM research.
The program is meant to inspire students to pursue their passions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The Davis-Bahcall scholars program also aims to demystify STEM careers by exposing students to what professionals do every day.
Two former Davis-Bahcall scholars, Dakotah Simpson and Madison Jilek, say the month they spent in the program a decade ago was a transformational experience that helped solidify their futures as science professionals.
Simpson graduated from Lead-Deadwood High School in 2013, became a Davis-Bahcall Scholar that summer, and went on to finish his electrical engineering degree at South Dakota Mines in 2017. He earned a Ph.D. in his field in 2022 from the University of Colorado Boulder. Today he works for Lockheed-Martin as a radio frequency engineer.
“This program really opened my eyes to the daily work of actual scientists,” Simpson said. “At that point in high school, you're taking classes and you're mainly learning from a book, but you don't know what it means to work in a lab, and you don’t really even know what physicists or chemists do on a daily basis. So, Davis-Bahcall was illuminating in this respect.”
Jilek graduated from Spearfish High School in 2014 and spent that summer as a Davis-Bahcall Scholar. She went on to complete degrees in physical science and chemistry at Black Hills State University. Today she is finishing a Ph.D. in chemical physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research centers around nanocrystal photophysics which involves using lasers to examine and manipulate exotic materials like quantum dots.
Jilek agrees that the Davis-Bahcall scholars program helped her connect classroom book learning with the actual work of scientists in the real-world.
“I feel like Davis-Bahcall helped me connect with peers and mentors,” Jilek said. “I have benefited immensely from the connections that I made during that summer in 2014. I'm still in communication with some of the people I did Davis-Bahcall with, and with some of the professors and professionals that we met along the way.”
The scholar program also includes travel abroad. For many, travel is an enriching educational experience and Simpson adds that visiting both national and international laboratories was a big part of the transformative experience.
Dakotah Simpson on the occasion of his doctoral graduation in electrical engineering at University of Colorado Boulder.
“Davis-Bahcall was the first time I'd been out of the country. We traveled to Italy and visited Rome and the Gran-Sasso mountain range. We were given freedom to explore those locations on our own, which was very exciting and liberating at that age. The experience inspired me to travel more in the future,” Simpson said.
Jilek and Simpson gained a bit more than inspiration and time abroad from their experience as Davis-Bahcall scholars. The two first met in 2014 when Jilek was in the program and Simpson was an intern at SURF. That encounter lead to a friendship. They eventually started dating and went on to study at the University of Colorado Boulder together. Today the couple are married and just had their first child.
Watching her daughter grow leads Jilek to reflect on the value of STEM education overall and the importance of inspiring more young people to take up STEM careers.
“Our one-year-old daughter loves to experiment with the world around her and learn new things; it's so obvious that curiosity is something innately human,” Jilek says. “I feel like nobody is better equipped to be a scientist or an engineer than a young person, because young people are so inquisitive. And this is something the Davis-Bahcall scholars program does so well. It gives young people the opportunity to have fun, explore their curiosity, and expand on their existing interests in STEM.”
The success story Simpson and Jilek represent as Davis-Bahcall alumni is repeated many times over.
“Madison and Dakotah are two of many Davis-Bahcall scholars who exemplify everything we hope this scholars program can achieve,” said Mike Headley, executive director of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and the laboratory director at SURF. “They showcase the value of SURF’s mission to inspire learning across generations and to educate future STEM leaders.”
About 100 students, including Jilek and Simpson have participated in the program since 2009. The goal is to keep this program operating for decades to come, so with luck their own daughter could someday follow in her parents’ footsteps.
Major sponsors of the Davis-Bahcall scholars program include First PREMIER Bank, Black Hills State University, the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, and the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority. Those interested in supporting this program can learn more here.
