Nolan enjoys playing the piano and clarinet. He also likes designing Web sites and constructing robots. His career aspirations include the biomedical field, so that "I can be a medical hero to someone in need of help."
Nolan became concerned about environmental arsenic contamination after newspaper articles highlighted high-arsenic concentrations in his community's soil. He wondered whether arsenic concentrations in people living nearby might reflect the arsenic concentrations in soil.
Nolan took soil samples from several local schools and hair samples from the schools' students, then analyzed them for arsenic concentrations. Although the soil arsenic concentrations were frequently significantly higher than recommended levels, arsenic concentrations in the students' hair were within a safe range.
