CHRISTINA WICKER, a 2013 Oak Harbor High School graduate attending the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago has received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Wicker is also a 2017 MIT graduate.

The NSF fellowship program, established in 1952, is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in scientific research. The program recruits high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers and supports their graduate research training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Wicker is exploring how devices can trap and store light for a period of time to carry basic communications over long distances through existing fiber optic cables without being absorbed or losing their quantum nature.