INNOVATION:
The Bright Future of Science: Intel STS Awards
The nation’s oldest and most prestigious high school science and math competition recognized high school seniors who are leaders in innovation and seeking to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. This year’s winners included two Indian Americans who won the ninth and tenth place in the competition. A Siliconeer report.
(Above): The top 10 Intel STS winners on stage after they won their awards, in Washington, D.C., March 12. [Photo: INTEL STS | Society for Science & the Public]
Innovation, from improving robot navigation to advancing treatment for breast cancer, was thriving at the nation’s capital. Honoring high school seniors with exceptional promise in math and science, Intel Corporation and Society for Science & the Public recognized the winners of what is considered the nation’s most elite and demanding high school research competition.
Sara Volz, 17, of Colorado Springs, Colo., won the top award of $100,000 from the Intel Foundation for her research of algae biofuels. Algae produces oil that can be converted into a sustainable, renewable fuel; however, the fuel can be costly. Sara used artificial selection to establish populations of algae cells with high oil content, which are essential for an economically feasible biofuel. Sara, who built a home lab under her loft bed, sleeps on the same light cycle as her algae.
The second-place honors and $75,000 went to Jonah Kallenbach, 17, of Ambler, Pa., whose bioinformatics study breaks new ground in predicting protein binding for drug therapy. Jonah solved an open problem first posed several years ago, and his work suggests a new path to drug design by targeting a protein’s disordered regions. His research may open doors to treatment for diseases, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer and tuberculosis.
The third-place honors and $50,000 went to Adam Bowman, 17, of Brentwood, Tenn., who successfully designed and built a compact and inexpensive, low-energy, pulsed plasma device. Typical plasma sources are large, complicated and expensive. Using his inexpensive technology, Adam believes plasma research can now be conducted in small-scale operations and even high school labs.
“The Intel Science Talent Search is an opportunity to reshape the dialogue around our nation’s youth,” said Wendy Hawkins, executive director of the Intel Foundation. “We believe it’s crucial to U.S. innovation to bring greater attention to math and science achievement, encourage more youth to embrace these fields, and demonstrate the impact these subjects have on our country’s future success.”
This year two Indian American students won the 9th and 10th place in the competition.
(Above): Akshay Padmanabha. [Photo: INTEL STS | Society for Science & the Public]
Akshay Padmanabha, 16, of Collierville, Tenn., submitted a bioengineering project to the Intel Science Talent Search. People suffering from seizure disorders resistant to drugs or surgery can be treated with a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS), which delivers a constant, low-voltage signal to the brain. While it is an effective therapy, the side effects of continuous stimulation by a VNS include sleep apnea and an increased risk of heart disease. Akshay analyzed epileptic EEGs to develop an algorithm for detecting oncoming seizures and simulated the algorithm’s use in a VNS-triggering system. His algorithm could be used to activate the VNS at the time of seizure onset, possibly avoiding the side effects of constant stimulation. He believes it could become the basis for embedded VNS-control software.
He received a $20,000 award as the ninth place winner for his development of this algorithm that detects oncoming epileptic seizures.
Akshay plays the electric and jazz bassoon, is principal bassoonist of the Houston High School band in Germantown, Tenn., and started a bassoon quartet. He plays Ultimate Frisbee, is founder and captain of the Math Bowl team and is a leader of Horizons, which promotes interaction between special needs and general education students.
(Above): Sahana Vasudevan. [Photo: INTEL STS | Society for Science & the Public]
Sahana Vasudevan, 16, of Palo Alto, Calif., entered an Intel Science Talent Search project in mathematics that proves a new, generalized way to minimize carries. Carries are important in arithmetic; for example 7 + 6 = 3 with a carry of 1. In computing, the carry is usually handled by a “carry bit,” so reducing carries decreases computational load. With the usual choice of digits, one is forced to carry about half the time, but previous work had shown that in odd prime bases, digits could be chosen so that the probability of a carry is reduced to 25 percent and that no further reduction is possible. Sahana generalized this result to mathematical structures called “groups” and proved that, in this general case, the set of digits must satisfy a certain necessary condition for the probability of a carry to be less than 25 percent.
She received a $20,000 award as the tenth place winner for her math research that proved a new, generalized way to minimize an important function of arithmetic.
Sahana is a student at Gnyanam Academy (Homeschool).
Other top honors from the competition include:
Fourth Place: Hannah Larson of Eugene, Ore., received a $40,000 award for her research of an abstract mathematical structure that’s important in many areas of theoretical physics and computer science.
Fifth Place: Peter Kraft of Munster, Ind., received a $30,000 award for his synthesis of 10 new coordination polymers, which are massive molecules with complex network structures that have applications in gas purification and the storage of hydrogen in fuel cells.
Sixth Place: Kensen Shi of College Station, Texas, received a $25,000 award for his development of a computer algorithm that makes it easier for a robot to avoid colliding with obstacles in its path.
Seventh Place: Samuel Zbarsky of Rockville, Md., received a $25,000 award for his math research that could improve the efficiency of 3-D computer networks.
Eighth Place: Brittany Wenger of Sarasota, Fla., received a $20,000 award for her development of an artificial neural network to help diagnose breast cancer using data from fine needle biopsy samples.
In total, the Intel Foundation awarded $1.25 million for the Intel Science Talent Search 2013. When Intel assumed the title sponsorship 15 years ago, it increased the annual awards by more than $1 million.
This year’s finalists hailed from 20 states and represented 40 schools.
Society for Science & the Public, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education, has owned and administered the Science Talent Search since its inception in 1942.
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