Sigh.. every time I hear or read the words “Intel Science Talent Search”, I can’t help but think back to my old high school days in New York City and how nearly every one of us felt compelled to enter the competition (which was known back then as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search). Of course most of us decided to go this route simply to prop up our extracurricular activities in the hopes of getting into a good college of some sort. I lasted all of 3 months in my HS research program before deciding that I’d rather play HS baseball than do some research project for a competition I didn’t think I had a chance of winning or even placing… Ahhh the memories.
Oh yes.. why am I even writing about the Talent Search you might ask? Intel officially announced the Science Talent Search 2009 winners today with the top prize (a $100,000 scholarship) going to Eric Larson of Eugene, Oregon, who won with a research project on “classifying mathematical objects called fusion categories” (um.. yeah ok).
The other top honors are as follows (via Intel press release):
“Second Place: William Sun, 17, of Chesterfield, Mo., received a $75,000 scholarship for his biochemistry project that studied the effects of a recently discovered molecule that could potentially help efforts to treat bacterial infections or prevent neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Third Place: Philip Streich, 18, of Platteville, Wis., received a $50,000 scholarship for his chemistry project on carbon nanotubes that may lead to the development of ultra-strong materials and ultra-fast nano-electronics. Philip’s work has resulted in five provisional patent filings.
Fourth Place: Narendra Tallapragada, 17, of Burke, Va., received a $25,000 scholarship for his project to find ways to simplify complex models of atomic and molecular interactions. His goal is to one day create “mini-computers” that can be used, for instance, to create automatic insulin pumps inside diabetic patients or intelligent clothing that responds to temperature.
Fifth Place: Chelsea Jurman, 17, of Roslyn, N.Y., received a $25,000 scholarship for studying underage drinking behavior and how it is tied to teen perceptions of parental drinking and parenting behaviors.
Sixth Place: Noah Arbesfeld, 17, of Lexington, Mass., received a $25,000 scholarship for his work seeking to understand a fundamental structure underlying all of algebra, with potential impact for string theory.
Seventh Place: Alexander Kim, 17, of Fairfax, Va., received a $20,000 scholarship for researching the variation and diversification in populations of the Giant American River Prawn, the largest freshwater invertebrate in North America. His research furthers understanding of how species evolve and has implications for the future of ecosystems.
Eighth Place: Preya Shah, 17, of Setauket, N.Y., received a $20,000 scholarship for designing and synthesizing a tumor-targeting drug for cancer treatment that represents a new approach to delivery of chemotherapy agents and possibly treatment of multi-drug resistant cancer without causing significant side effects.
Ninth Place: Nilesh Tripuraneni, 18, of Fresno, Calif., received a $20,000 scholarship for formulating a set of hydrodynamic equations that may provide a potential method to better understand the first movements of the universe and could aid in the development of a quantum theory of gravity.
Tenth Place: Gabriela Farfan, 18, of Madison, Wis., received a $20,000 scholarship for her project investigating Oregon Sunstones, which contain one of the most common rock forming minerals in the world. She determined that these sunstones have unique micro-inclusions that allow them to look one color from one angle and another from a different angle. “
30 other finalists each received $5000 scholarships as well as new laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo on the inside. Not bad! Congrats to these kids – they’ve achieved a great thing and they’ve also sealed their tickets to some top 20 university as a result.
[Check it out]
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