Samantha Kelchen awarded 2025 SPS Leadership Scholarship

About the Recipient

Zone and Chapter: Coe College, Zone 11

My name is Samantha Kelchen, and I am a rising junior at Coe College pursuing degrees in physics and math. I am actively involved in several campus clubs, serving as the Women in STEM (WinSTEM) Club president and as Social Media Chair for the Physics Club. I am an athlete and the President for Coe’s Clay Target Team, which not only competes, but prioritizes raising money for local charities as well. Finally, I conduct research in my department to study the properties and applications of several glass systems. Last summer, I focused on how sodium borate glasses can be used as dielectrics in producing microplasma, a topic that I was able to present at Churchill College in Cambridge, UK. With this being said, my career interest lies in renewable energy research. After I graduate from Coe, I plan to get a PhD in nuclear physics, with the goal of one day working in a national laboratory. Outside of my academics, I enjoy crocheting, reading a good book, and spending time outdoors.