HIGH ACHIEVER; CSUN STUDENT'S SCIENCE STUDY TO BE PUBLISHED.

Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer

At 19, CSUN sophomore Arwen Vidal is the envy of academia - she's about to have an article published in a major scientific journal.

A report co-authored by Vidal, who grew up in Northridge and attended Alemany High School, will appear in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, one of the top publications of its kind in the nation. The 12-page article - ``Precisions Relative Aggregation Number Determination of SDS Micelles Using a Spin Probe: A Model of Micelle Surface Hydration'' - is based on the findings of a one-year study on precision measurement conducted by a team of scientists and students.

Last month, when the five-member team learned its work would appear in the journal, Vidal reacted as any teen-age researcher would.

``I couldn't believe it. I was so excited I was running around going, I'm getting published! I'm getting published!'' she gushed. ``It is really great to know that you've done something worthwhile.''

Vidal, a physics major, started working on the study as a research assistant for California State University, Northridge, physics professor Barney L. Bales in fall 1997, when she was a freshman.

Bales said while it's not that unusual to have undergraduates assist in research, getting their work published is another story.

``Look, most work that one does doesn't get to be published, it's only the best stuff,'' Bales said. And to do so at age 19 ``is almost unheard of. Maybe one in 1,000. . . . Most of the 19-year-olds can't even sweep the floor in the lab, let alone turn on the equipment.''

But when Bales began teaching Vidal in his freshman physics class he was immediately impressed.

``She was awfully good and I recognized it,'' he said. ``She's such a positive spirit. She's great to have in the lab and she catches on very quickly.''

Vidal, whose father teaches science to elementary school pupils, said she's been fascinated with all types of scientific pursuits ever since she was a little girl. She aced physics while attending Alemany High in Mission Hills, and even served as a teacher's assistant leading lectures and labs.

Upon graduation Vidal knew she had her pick of colleges, and considered attending research powerhouses like Stanford and the University of California, Los Angeles. But it was the personal attention offered by her hometown campus that won her over.

Plus, her mother works at CSUN as an assistant director of work-study programs and scholarships.

CSUN is ``a very student-oriented institution,'' Vidal said. ``I had an option to be a number or a face. I've had the opportunity to do research and meet a lot of people on campus who have been so supportive. And the professors are very approachable.''

The research she did as a freshman with Bales dealt with micelles - aggregates of polar molecules. The article for the Journal of Physical Chemistry presents a model for the structure of micelles and their actions in water. For the article, Vidal served as a writer and proofreader.

If the model stands up under testing, it could lead to practical applications in fields as diverse as agriculture, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and for creating products such as detergents.

To make the measurements, the team used an electron spin resonance spectrometer that gives highly precise results.

Besides Vidal, the article's authors are: Bales, former CSUN graduate student Luis Messina, CSUN professor Miroslav Peric and visiting Brazilian professor Otaciro Rangel Nascimento.

Though her work involved combining principles of several sciences, for now, Vidal said she's still most enamored with physics.

``Physics to me is the one science I can see all the time no matter where I go. I open a door and I go, Wow - physics in motion,'' she said.

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PHOTO (color) Professor Barney L. Bales and student Arwen Vidal's study will be published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News