Conversing with a Nobel laureate in Stockholm last December was a rare opportunity for recent Bethel graduate Matthew Seaberg ’07, one of 25 outstanding young science students from around the world selected to take part in the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS), leading up to the 2007 Nobel Awards.

Seaberg was one of only 25 students from around the world selected for the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS), leading up to the 2007 Nobel Awards.

Seaberg qualified for the honor as winner of the 2007 Glenn T. Seaborg Science Award, given annually by the Swedish Council of America to one student of a U.S. university founded by Swedish immigrants.

Seaberg heard lectures by 2007 Nobel laureates and presented to high school students his own summer research project, “Suppression of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Mirror Vibrational Modes.” The apex of the week was participation in the Nobel Award ceremonies on December 10.

Seaberg presented his physics research project to Swedish high school students.

“At the reception if you wanted to talk to the Nobel Laureates all you had to do was find them, assuming there wasn’t already a crowd around them,” says Seaberg. “I personally talked to Gerhard Ertl, who received the prize in chemistry. I was impressed with his friendliness…and was further impressed when I found out that his degree is actually in my field of physics.”

Seaberg is now studying for a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder, which has the highest ranking graduate program in the U.S. in optical physics. He has a full-ride teaching assistantship.