Seventeen young women and 23 young men rose to the top from a pool of 1,608 entrants in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, America’s oldest high school science competition. The 40 finalists will travel to Washington, D.C. in March to compete for $530,000 in scholarships, with the top winner receiving a $100,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation.
This year’s finalists investigated topics that include nerve survival in Parkinson’s disease, corrosion of concrete and the evolutionary history of a giant river prawn.
“It will fall to this generation of young scientists to address the world’s greatest scientific, technological, environmental and health challenges,” says Elizabeth Marincola, publisher of Science News and president of Society for Science & the Public, which runs the program. “Society for Science & the Public is proud to join with Intel to encourage their continued dedication to scientific inquiry.”
The finalists, announced January 28, are:
Arizona: Smitha Ramakrishna, Corona del Sol H.S., Tempe.
California: Aniruddha Sandeep Deshmukh, Bellarmine College Preparatory School, San Jose; Nitish Lakhanpal, University H.S., Irvine; Marianna Yuling Mao, Mission San Jose H.S., Fremont; Julia Dory Ransohoff, Menlo-Atherton H.S., Atherton; Nilesh Tripuraneni, Clovis West H.S., Fresno.
Connecticut: Aditya Rajagopalan, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford.
Florida: Maxim Rabinovich, Shorecrest Preparatory School, St Petersburg.
Illinois: Elizabeth Jie Rao, Lincoln Park H.S., Chicago; Eric Shyu, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Aurora.
Massachusetts: Noah Maxwell Arbesfeld, Lexington H.S., Lexington.
Minnesota: Michael Sheng Cherkassky, Edina H.S., Edina; Stephen Walter Trusheim, Breck School, Minneapolis.
Missouri: William Jayang Sun, Parkway Central H.S, Chesterfield.
New Jersey: Doris Chen, Tenafly H.S., Tenafly; Radomir Kratchmarov, Livingston H.S., Livingston; Hayden Craig Metsky, Millburn H.S., Millburn.
New York: Patrick Jeffrey Abejar, Smithtown H.S. West, Smithtown; Jocelyn Chuang, Josepher Li, The Bronx H.S. School of Science, Bronx; Abigail Sara Greene, John Jay H.S., Cross River; Chelsea Lynn Jurman, Roslyn H.S., Roslyn Heights; Anissa Yuenming Mak, Adam Benjamin Sealfon, Stuyvesant H.S., New York; Preya Shah, Christine Lee Shrock, Ward Melville H.S., East Setauket.
Ohio: Elizabeth Charlotte Coquillette, Caitlin Maureen Mann, Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights; Tong Zhan, William Mason H.S., Mason.
Oklahoma: Melissa Nicole Carvell, Bartlesville H.S., Bartlesville.
Oregon: Eric Kerner Larson, South Eugene H.S., Eugene; Michael Loy, Oregon Episcopal School, Portland.
Pennsylvania: Janet Song, Methacton H.S., Norristown.
Texas: Wen Chyan, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton; Michael Tyler Wham, Sterling Ridge home school, The Woodlands.
Virginia: Alexander Mee-Woong Kim, Narendra Pundarik Tallapragada, Thomas Jefferson H.S. for Science and Technology, Alexandria.
Wisconsin : Gabriela Aylin Farfan , West H.S., Madison; Suvai Gunasekaran , James Madison Memorial H.S., Madison; Philip Vidal Streich , home school, Platteville.
