Former Hays resident earns doctorate at age 21

[Dodgegal]

Here is another smart Kansas native.

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Former Hays resident earns doctorate at age 21

The Associated Press
HAYS, Kan. — While most children were learning to walk, Kate Denning was learning to read. By the time they graduated to bicycles, she was playing Bach on the piano.

It should come as no surprise, then, that while some people her age were earning bachelor's degrees, the 21-year-old former Hays resident was earning a doctorate in computational neurobiology from the University of California at San Diego.

"I learned through the years that if people would just listen to Kate — including me — and give her a chance, she would accomplish the goals she set for herself," said Deb Denning, Kate's mother.

The eldest of three children, Kate Denning has been on the fast-track through school from the start. She skipped first and third grades and graduated from Hays High School at age 16. At the same time, she amassed 101 credit hours at Fort Hays State University, where she graduated a year later with a degree in physics.

And she still managed to make all A's her senior year of high school.

"It was getting people to listen and give her the opportunities she deserved and had the ability for that was the tricky part of her education," Deb Denning said. "The next step was to obtain those opportunities."

Fort Hays State offered the flexibility to attend high school and college at once. There, Kate Denning became the youngest student ever to earn a degree in physics, department Chairman Gavin Buffington said.

"After she got in here and the initial shock of having a 13-year-old in the physics department wore off, she was just one of the gang," Buffington said. "I don't think anybody really looked at her any differently."

It wasn't until Denning earned an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the atomic bomb was developed, that her age finally caught up to her.

"We almost had to pull strings because she wasn't old enough," Buffington said.

Quickly earning a reputation as a trailblazer, Denning became only the 12th person to graduate with a degree from UC-San Diego's computational neurobiology program.

The program trains researchers to monitor large-scale brain activity, analyze the data with advanced computational techniques and develop new models for brain development and function.

Denning's emphasis was on the processing of stimuli in the visual pathway, and she has had work published in such scientific journals as the Journal of Neuroscience, Visual Neuroscience and the Journal of Carcinogenesis.

"I was interested in law since I was very young," Denning said. "Then my uncle went into patent law. He obtained a degree in engineering before going to law school, so I decided to get a degree in physics."

But Denning's interest in law never waned, and after getting married in September, she too will embark on a career in patent law.

"I think Kate will be great in this field and have fun doing it," Deb Denning said.

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Information from: The Hays Daily News,

http://www.hdnews.net

[K C Muffin]

wow. To have done all that and still maintained a social life. Incredible. I have a hard time just maintaining the social life, let alone have any time to educate myself or offer much of value to an employer.........

[Highwayman]

Dodgegal finds good stuff. Thanks!