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: