Talent found: top science students chosen in 62nd annual competition - 2003 Intel Science Talent Search

Science News, Feb 1, 2003 by B. Harder

Forty wunderkinder from 14 states and the District of Columbia have been named as finalists in the 2003 Intel Science Talent Search. The competitors, announced on Jan. 29, represent the cream of more than 1,500 high school seniors who submitted their original research in biochemistry, mathematics, physics, behavioral sciences, and other scientific fields.

"These remarkable students, with their solid grounding in science and math, are poised to become tomorrow's leaders and innovators," says Craig Barrett, chief executive officer of Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., the contest's sponsor. Past finalists number more than 2,000 and include winners of the Nobel prize, the National Medal of Science, and other esteemed science and math honors.

Science Service, which publishes Science News, has run the contest each year since its inception in 1942. Intel replaced the program's original corporate sponsor, the Westinghouse Foundation, in 1998.

Apart from science, the talents of this year's finalists include competitive ballroom dancing, opera singing, and jazz piano. One finalist is a sign-language interpreter, and 24 are fluent in a language other than English.

In March, the students will travel to Washington, D.C., to compete for $530,000 in college scholarships. The top winner will receive $100,000 toward college, and all finalists will take home a high-performance computer and a scholarship of at least $5,000.

In addition to the finalists, 260 other entrants in the Intel Science Talent Search were chosen as semifinalists. They and their high schools will each receive $1,000 for the honor.

Here are this year's finalists:

CALIFORNIA: Peter Michal Pawlowski, Troy H.S., Fullerton; Michelle Rengarajan, Westridge School, Pasadena.

CONNECTICUT: Alexander Chow Mittal, Greenwich H.S., Greenwich; Michael Herbert Nyberg, Lyme-Old Lyme H.S., Old Lyme.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Sabrina Curie Snell, School Without Walls, Washington.

FLORIDA: Jamie Elyce Rubin, Canterbury School, Fort Myers; Bryan A. Lemus, Dr. Michael M. Krop H.S., Miami; Ibraheem Maqsood Mohammed, Niceville Senior H.S., Niceville; Anupama Kotha, C. Leon King H.S., Tampa; Anant Ramesh Patel, Astronaut H.S., Titusville.

HAWAII: Matthew Douglas Apau Jachowski, Maul H.S., Kahului.

MARYLAND: Anatoly Preygel, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring.

MASSACHUSETTS: Steven J.F. Byrnes, Roxbury Latin School, West Roxbury.

MICHIGAN: Ethan James Street, Winston Churchill H.S., Livonia.

MINNESOTA: Emma Rose Schmidgall, Robbinsdale Cooper H.S., New Hope.

NORTH CAROLINA: Edward Joseph Su, William G. Enloe H.S., Raleigh.

NEW MEXICO: Naveen Neil Sinha, Los Alamos H.S., Los Alamos.

NEW YORK: Matthew Jay Kroll and Alison Kimberly Yee, both of Byram Hills H.S., Armonk; Casey Ann Vaughn, Lawrence H.S., Cedarhurst; Carolyn Morgan Tewksbury, Clinton Senior H.S., Clinton; Brandon Stuart Imber, Commack H.S., Commack; Hyeyeon Choi, Half Hollow Hills H.S. East, Dix Hills; Lester Wayne Mackey, Half Hollow Hills H.S. West, Dix Hills; Zachary Daniel Wissner-Gross, Great Neck South H.S,, Great Neck; Julian A. Gingold, New Rochelle H.S,, New Rochelle; Yi-Chen Zhang, Bronx H.S. of Science, New York; Anna Gekker, Brooklyn Technical H.S., New York; Alex Levin, Joel Brewster Lewis, and Varun Kumar Narendra, all of Stuyvesant H.S., New York; Phoebe Robeson Rounds, Irondequoit H.S., Rochester; Hilary Caren Fleischer and Alex Kardon, both of South Side H.S., Rockville Centre; Jeffrey Lawrence Licitra, Blind Brook H.S., Rye Brook; Adam Mikah Malin and Daniel Jacob Ketover, both of Syosset H.S., Syosset.

OKLAHOMA: Vera Louise te Velde, Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Oklahoma City.

OREGON: Tianhui Li, Oregon Episcopal School, Portland.

TEXAS: Scott Bailey Zeglin, Oak Ridge H.S., Conroe.