By Ben Harder
Forty high school students—the top 2.6 percent of 1,558 competitors—have each earned a spot as a finalist in the 65th annual Intel Science Talent Search. With some half-a-million dollars in scholarships hanging in the balance, the students’ diverse science, math, and engineering projects will compete head-to-head in Washington, D.C., in March.
As in past years, New York produced more finalists than any other state did. A student from Idaho and another from Utah are the first finalists to represent their respective states in more than a decade.
Women make up 42.5 percent of the overall group.
“While as a nation we continue to struggle to improve science and math education, these students give us hope for our future,” says Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif.
Intel sponsored the event, which is administered by Science Service, the publisher of Science News. Both organizations announced the finalists’ names on Jan. 25.
Past finalists have gone on to win Nobel prizes and other illustrious awards in scientific fields.
The 2006 finalists are:
Alabama: Jennifer Ann Taylor, Florence H.S., Florence.
California: Genevieve Williams, Redondo Union H.S., Redondo Beach; Michael Anthony Viscardi, Josan Academy, San Diego; Yi Sun, The Harker School, San Jose.
Colorado: Adam Daniel Sidman, William J. Palmer H.S., Colorado Springs.
Connecticut: Kiran Reddy Pendri, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford; Jonathan Blake Sellon, Staples H.S., Westport.
Florida: Shoshana Sophie Rothman Tell, Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale.
Idaho: Lucas Edward Moller, Moscow H.S., Moscow.
Illinois: Xin Wang and Letian Zhang, Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy, Aurora; Sukrit Ranjan, Glenbrook North H.S., Northbrook.
Louisiana: Kate Elizabeth Lowry, Louisiana School for Math, Science & the Arts, Natchitoches.
Maryland: Myers Abraham Davis, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore; Jeffrey Chunlong Xing, River Hill H.S., Clarksville; Minh-Phuong Huynh-Le and Yuan Zhang, Montgomery Blair H.S., Silver Spring.
Massachusetts: Kimberly Megan Scott, Wellesley H.S., Wellesley Hills.
Michigan: John Cong Zhou, Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills.
New York: Allison Mae Gardner and Joseph Daniel Vellone, Byram Hills H.S., Armonk; Adam Ross Solomon, John F. Kennedy H.S., Bellmore; Irina Vladimirovna Zaitseva, Centereach H.S., Centereach; Jerrold Alexander Lieblich and Harley Huiyu Zhang, Ward Melville H.S., East Setauket; David Bruce Kelley, Highland H.S., Highland; Brittany Nicole Russo, Sanford H. Calhoun H.S., Merrick; Eric Allan Meyerowitz, Northport H.S., Northport; Carmiel Effron Schickler, Paul D. Schreiber H.S., Port Washington; Sarah Kate Rapoport, Horace Mann School, Riverdale; Sheela Krishnan, Suffern H.S., Suffern; Diane Jeehea Choi, Syosset H.S., Syosset.
Ohio: John Pease Moore, Dayton Christian H.S., Dayton.
Oregon: Elyse Autumn Hope and Sergio-Francis Mellejor Zenisek, Oregon Episcopal School, Portland.
Texas: Evan Scott Gawlik, Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science, Denton.
Utah: Shannon Lisa Babb, American Fork H.S., American Fork.
Virginia: Justin Moore Solomon, Thomas Jefferson H.S. for Science & Technology, Alexandria.
Washington: Anna Jolene Mork, Shorewood H.S., Seattle.
Wisconsin: Nicholas Michael Wage, Appleton H.S. East, Appleton.
