Cara Anne Nickolaus, 25, of Cambridge, Massachusetts died September 20, 2015. She was born in Lincoln on August 10, 1990 to Lowell and Jane (Empkey) Nickolaus.
Cara was a 2009 graduate of Lincoln Northeast and a 2013 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She was working on her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge at the time of her death.
Cara’s interest in academics started at an early age. She was involved in Destination Imagination at Riley Elementary School. At Culler Middle School she was active in Destination Imagination, Quiz Bowl, and played oboe in the band.
During her time at Northeast High School, Cara was Valedictorian, Math Club President, Speech Team Captain, National Honor Society Treasurer, Co-founder of Study Buddies Mentoring Program and a Clifton Fellow. She was also involved in Economics Challenge Team, Academic Decathlon, Quiz Bowl, earned letters in Academics, Band, Math and Speech. She also served on the Nebraska Attorney General’s Youth Council.
Cara had the opportunity to participate in excellent summer programs: Women in Math at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2006); Michigan Math & Science Program (2007); Research for Undergraduates in Theoretical Ecology program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2008); Summer Scholars in Biology and Biomedical Engineering Program at Washington University (2009); Nebraska Appleseed Internship (2010); Served as research assistant for Professor Steven Fazzari and helped with web-site design for the “Muddy Waters Macro” website (2011 – 2012); Research Program in Intrinsically Linked Graphs, State University of New York-Potsdam (2012); and attended summer school focusing on market design in economic theory in Jerusalem (2014).
At Washington University in St. Louis, Cara was an Arthur Holly Honorary Scholar in Mathematics and the recipient of the Edward Greenberg Book Prize in Economics. She also participated in math club, pops orchestra, Undergraduate Socio-Economic Diversity team, student alumni ambassador program, member of Phi Betta Kappa, and the Putnam Math competition. She graduated Suma Cum Laude with Honors in Math and Economics.
She presented at the 2012 Undergraduate Women in Mathematics Conference and the 2012 Unknot Conference. She was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Grant during her time at MIT.
She was very involved in residential life at the “Warehouse,” her apartment complex at MIT. In addition to serving as treasurer for their student government team, she was also a Resident Assistant.
More important than her academic accomplishments was the kindness she showered on friends and relatives. She was very compassionate friend to many. She touched many lives through her participation as a Volunteer Day Leader, Project Coordinator and tutor with the KIPP Program at Washington University. She was also a volunteer with the Juvenile Detention Center Mentoring Program in St. Louis.
She is survived by her parents; sister, Alison (Dane) Bowder, Lincoln; grandfather Walter Empkey of Lincoln; uncles Mark Nickolaus of Lincoln; John Empkey & Mike Fields, both of Ferguson, Missouri; aunt Kelly (Craig) Selko, Lincoln; in addition to her extended family and many friends.
Preceded in death by her grandparents, Robert and LaVonne Nickolaus of Stockham, NE and Clara Empkey of Lincoln.
Funeral service: Friday, October 9th at 10:30 am at First-Plymouth Church, 20th & D Streets, Lincoln NE.
Memorials to the Cara Nickolaus Memorial Scholarship, c/o Lincoln Public Schools Foundation, 5905 “O” Street, Lincoln NE 68510. Interment at Wyuka Cemetery, Lincoln, and Farmer’s Valley Cemetery, Hamilton County, NE.