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Science News, March 16, 1996 by Ronald Lipkin

A mathematical investigation of a special class of numbers, the discovery of a transcription factor regulating cells, and a system to spot ice forming on airplane wings won the top three prizes in the 55th Westinghouse Science Talent Search, sponsored by the Westinghouse Foundation in partnership with Science Service Inc., the publisher of Science News.

Presented this week in Washington, D.C., the scholarship prizes-40 in all, totaling $205,000-went to 15 female and 25 male high school seniors from 12 states, chosen from 1,869 applicants.

The top scholarship of $40,000 was awarded to Jacob Lurie, an 18-year-old mathematician from Montgomery Blair H.S. in Silver Spring, Md. His study of a class of the numbers called surreal, showing their relevance to specific types of computation and game-playing, represents an outgrowth of the mathematical discipline of game theory. The second prize of $30,000 was given to Ting Luo, an 18-year-old biologist from Stuyvesant H.S. in New York. She identified a new transcription factor that controls a cell's response to external stress, including viral infection, cancer, and drug toxicity. The novel factor plays a role in a cell's expression of genes and synthesis of proteins.

The third prize of $20,000 was presented to Matthew David Graham, an 18-year-old from Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville, Fla. He designed and built an aircraft warning system that uses ultrasound vibrations along a wing's surface to detect ice. Analyzing the vibrational signals, a computer determines if ice is forming on the wing.

Fourth- through sixth-place awards of $15,000 each went to Bruce Mizrahi Haggerty, 18, of Stuyvesant H.S.; Aaron Michael Einbond, 17, of Hunter College H.S. in New York; and Daniel Paul Weitz, 17, of Morristown (N.J.) H.S. Haggerty used statistical methods to improve geological age estimates of ancient lava flows and to relate them to mass extinctions. Einbond identified a protein binding pattern relevant to muscular dystrophy. Weitz built a plasma generator in his basement to study chemical reactions.

The seventh- through tenth-place scholarships of $10,000 apiece went to Brian Palmer Hafler, 17, of the Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, Mass.; Simon Joseph DeDeo, 16, of Phillips Exeter (N.H.) Academy; Sidney Hsiao-Ning Chang, 17, of Half Hollow Hills H.S. East in Dix Hills, N.Y.; and Vezen Wu, 17, of Stanton College Preparatory School. Naomi Sue Bates, 18, of Franklin (W. Va.) H.S., and William David Garrahan, 17, of Bishop Hendricken H.S. in Warwick, R.I., were named first and second alternates.

Bates, Garrahan, and the remaining 28 winners each received $1,000. J. Richard Gott, an astrophysicist at Princeton University, headed the panel of 12 judges, which included Nobel laureate Dudley R. Herschbach of Harvard University, Harold Amos of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and marine biologist Sylvia A. Earle of Oakland, Calif.

Of previous Westinghouse winners, five have won Nobel prizes and many have become members of the National Academy of Science.