Seven NCSSM students have been named Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists, one of the nations most prestigious research competitions for high school senior. Mia de los Reyes, Alyssa Ferris, Suqi Huang, Pranav Maddi, Ada Taylor, Vipul Vachharajani, and Lisa Zheng are among 300 students nationally recognized for their exemplary research and have each received a $1,000 award for their research.

 

The Intel Science Talent Search® (Intel STS), is the nation’s most prestigious science research competition for high school seniors. Since 1942, first in partnership with Westinghouse and since 1998 with Intel, SSP has provided a national stage for the country's best and brightest young scientists to present original research to nationally recognized professional scientists.

 

The semifinalists of the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) 2012 were chosen from among 1,839 entrants representing 497 high schools in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and three overseas schools. Each of the 300 students named a semifinalist in the Intel STS 2012 will receive a $1,000 award for his or her outstanding research. Additionally, to recognize excellence in teaching and school support of individual student research, every school will receive an award of $1,000 for each semifinalist named in the Intel STS 2012. This award is used to further excellence in science, math, and/or engineering education.

 

The Intel STS encourages talented U.S. high school seniors to pursue independent research in science, math, engineering, and medicine. Seven alumni of the program—the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded pre-college science contest—have been selected as Nobel Laureates.

 

Over eight decades, more than 130,000 students from U.S. high schools in all 50 states and territories have completed independent science research projects and submitted entries. Each completed entry consists of a written description of the student's independent research, plus an entry form that elicits evidence of the student's excellence and accomplishments. Over 2,800 Finalists have received more than $10.5 million in awards to support their college educations, and thousands of Semifinalists have received millions more.

 

Project titles of NCSSM semifinalists

Mia de los Reyes:
Use of Spray Adhesives for the Manufacture of 3-D Capillary Origami Microstructures

 

Alyssa Ferris:
The Effect of Epigenetic Modifications on Active and Inactive Centromeres

 

Suqi Huang:
Determination of Activity Coefficients of Wood Smoke Tracer in Artificial and Ambient Organic Semi-Volatile Aerosols

 

Pranav Maddi:
Using Blocking Peptides to Control and Analyze the Mechanical Properties of Single Fibrin Fibers

 

Ada Taylor:
Computational and Experimental Analyses to Assess the Benefits of Optimizing Curvature in the Design of Polymer Solar Cells to Harvest Maximal Energy from Incident Light

 

Vipul Vachharajani:

The RNA-Binding Protein HuR Binds and Stabilizes Pre-mRNA in vivo

 

Lisa Zheng:
An Inhibitory Model for Neuronal Symmetry Breaking