A passion for math and physics drives CBS Colorado Future Leaders winner, who is simulating primordial black holes

CBS Colorado recognizes high school students who are excelling in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through our Future Leaders award. The award comes with $1,000 and a profile on CBS News Colorado. The latest Future Leaders award winner is Hanbei Bao, a rising senior at Fairview High School in Boulder. Bao will be spending her summer doing math and physics for fun.

Boa is a star in the world of competition math. She competes in the American Regional Mathematics League. She also participates in the American Mathematics Competition Series which culminates in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination.

"I've qualified to that all three years, which is pretty exciting," Boa said. 

"What kind of math do you do in these competitions?" asked CBS Colorado First Alert Chief Meteorologist Dave Aguilera. 

"They have more what's called 'number theory.' It's sort of working with numbers, getting what numbers feel like. That's not really taught in school," Boa responded.

Boa brings her enthusiasm for math to middle school students through the Colorado Math Circle's After School Program. It's an opportunity that she takes very seriously. She was inspired by her teacher when she was in the same program.

"Personally, I enjoy it because I get to teach these kids what I found fun in math," she said.

Bao also finds fun in physics.

"I taught myself AP Physics on Khan Academy," she explained.

She spent three weeks at the University of Pennsylvania's Experimental Physics Research Academy where she got hands-on experience in physics. 

"So after EPRA, I was buzzing. I was like, 'That was epic!' So I started my independent physics research project which I'm currently working on," Boa thrilled. 

She's simulating primordial black holes to study how their mass distribution effects their evolution.

"We can see as it's really big it's getting small slowly, but then when it's small it's getting smaller really quickly," she said of one of her research graphs. 

"What got you interested in physics?" Aguilera asked. 

"I always thought astrophysics was cool because there's just so much ... it's so big. There's so much we don't know," Boa replied. 

It's that thirst for knowledge that inspired Bao to start a STEM café which she calls Boulder Brewing STEAM. She invites scientific experts to speak to high school students. 

"You get, first of all, insight into this STEM career, which you don't usually get in school. You can also see into specific fields of STEM research, and it breaks that stereotype of everyone is just a hard-core nerd," she said. 

Bao's excitement for math and physics is infectious. She has one more year of high school, then she plans to get degrees in physics and applied math. 

"I definitely want to get to a PhD level and beyond of research in physics because there's just so much out there I want to find out."

LINK: Check out previous Future Leaders winners

CBS Colorado will be accepting nominations for the Future Leaders award again in September.