21550 Laviolette is a main-belt

Asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...

 asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 discovered on August 17, 1998 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research Team at Socorro

Socorro, New Mexico

Socorro is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It stands in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . The population was 9,051 at the 2010 census...

.

The asteroid was named in 2006 after a 2006 award honoree, Jessica Lynn Laviolette (b. 1987), who was awarded first place in the 2006 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...

 for her engineering project. She was attending the Brandon High School

Brandon High School

- History :The school originally opened in 1914 on the current site of McLane Middle School. In 1972, the school moved to its current location on Victoria Street in Brandon. The school colors are maroon and white. The school mascot is the Eagle. Brandon High is currently a "B" school on SDHC's high...

, Ortonville, Michigan, U.S.A.