2018 年 4 月 5 日

Harvard College Office of Admissions, Byerly Hall 8 Garden Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Dear Colleagues:

This is a letter of recommendation for ALEXANDRA SASHA RAHLIN who is currently a senior student at the Illinois Math and Science Academy.

I very strongly and enthusiastically support Sasha’s admission at your program.

I first met Sasha in 2002 after an invited talk I gave at IMSA on particle physics. She showed great interest and asked many questions. I was later contacted by the school administration inquiring whether I would supervise Sasha and a fellow student on a research project at the Collider Detector at Fermilab.

Sasha started working with me at CDF in November 2002 and until April 2003. The project we worked on was an extension of the reach for supersymmetric particles with CDF data. The search involved computational and analytical work and some understanding of the underlying physics. I was impressed by her ability to quickly learn, work hard and produce results. She was a great student and collaborator and extremely focused. She delivered results promptly and thoughtfully. She was very demanding of her collaborators and supervisor, tremendously thorough in all aspects at work and persistent in getting answers when she was uncertain about anything.

Overall, Sasha Rahlin is an impressive young student with an inquiring mind, very determined and with sound foundation to be a great scientist. Her drive is remarkable, she has unusual accomplishments for her age and she is qualified to move as an undergraduate at a very best institution. Having been a teaching assistant during my Ph.D. time at the Physics Department at Harvard I have no doubt that she would meet her potential and flourish at the College.

F E R M I L A B P . O . B O X 5 0 0 • B A T A V I A I L • 6 0 5 1 0 P H O N E : 6 3 0 8 4 0 4 7 5 9 • F A X : 6 3 0 8 4 0 8 8 5 9 E - M A I L : S M A R I A @ F N A L . G O V – 2 – April 5, 2018

Sincerely,

Dr. Maria Spiropulu Research Scientist UCSB/FERMILAB/CERN