Fourth-year Brendan Whalen has earned a scholarship from theVirginia Space Grant Consortiumto improve 3-D printing processes while working alongside members of thematerials informaticsresearch group led by Prasanna Balachandran, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Whalen is pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering. He works closely with Carl Knospe, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Additionally, Whalen will earn a Bachelor of Arts in physics, working closely with associate professor Cass Sackett. Whalen comes from Alexandria, Virginia, where he earned his high school diploma from the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. “My high school physics class is where I fell in love with engineering, because it explains the way everything around us works,†Whalen said, describing an experiment in which he had to place and roll a steel ball off of a table to land in a can on the ground. “Our whole grade was based on whether we hit the target,†he said. “That's where I really understood that I can use these mathematical equations to explain the world around us.†Whalen completed his senior research project working in the high school's computer science lab, where he learned programming languages and the steps in the research process. “My amazing teachers and the research lab experience prepared me really well for UVA,†he said.