Stony Brook University Faculty Mentor a Record Five Finalists In Nationwide Intel Science Talent Search Competition

General University News
Stony Brook University Faculty Mentor a Record Five Finalists In Nationwide Intel Science Talent Search Competition

STONY BROOK, N.Y., January 30 2008 – A record five of the 40 high school students selected nationwide as finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search, also known as the "junior Nobel Prize" research competition, conducted their research at Stony Brook University under the mentoring of Stony Brook faculty. Four of the five finalists participated in the elite Simons Summer Research Fellowship program, founded in 1984 and sponsored by the Simons Foundation.

The impressive statistic of 12 percent of Intel finalists selected nationwide being mentored at Stony Brook University exceeds all science competition records. In previous years Stony Brook faculty mentored two to four Intel STS finalists per year (with a total of 15 Intel finalists in the previous five years), and 194 Intel STS semifinalists since 2002. Intel Science Talent Search finalists / semifinalists and their Stony Brook research mentors are posted at: http://www.stonybrook.edu/simons/intel.htm.

The press release issued by Intel today notes that New York had 15 finalists, more than any other state, followed by Pennsylvania with four and Texas with three. Nine of the fifteen New York state finalists were from Long Island. The five Intel finalists mentored at Stony Brook University include:

Ashok Chandran from Smithtown HS East, St. James, who worked with Dr. Marian Evinger in Pediatrics on "The Distinctive Molecular Signature of Nicotine in Breast Cancer Cells";
Herman Gudjonson from Ward Melville HS (Three Village School District/*INSTAR), East Setauket, who worked with Dr. Maurice Kernan in Neurobiology & Behavior on "Reduced Taste in Drosophila melanogaster Mutated for an Obesity Syndrome Protein";
Chun-Kai (Kenny) Kao from The George School, Newtown, PA, a student from Taiwan who worked with Dr. Miriam Rafailovich in Materials Science & Engineering on "Nanoparticle Enhancement of PEM Fuel Cell Power Output";
David Rosengarten from Great Neck North HS, Great Neck, who worked with Dr. Martin Rocek in Physics & Astronomy on "Rotation Curves in Five Dimensions;" and,
Hamsa Sridhar from Kings Park HS, Kings Park, who worked with Dr. Harold Metcalf and Dr. John Noé in the Laser Teaching Center, Physics & Astronomy on a project titled: "A Novel Astigmatic Laser Mode Converter for Optical Vortex Tweezers."

Two weeks ago it was announced that 28 of the 300 students named as 2007-08 Intel semifinalists selected nationwide did their research work at Stony Brook. And last month, Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, seniors at John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview-Old Bethpage who did their research in the Chemistry Lab of Professor Iwao Ojima at Stony Brook University were Grand Prize winners in the team category of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, one of the premier high school science competitions in the United States.

"The opportunities provided by our extraordinary faculty researchers who give their time and resources to mentoring high school students exceed those of any university in the country," said Shirley Strum Kenny, President of Stony Brook University. "They are truly helping to develop these gifted young students into the scientists of tomorrow. Stony Brook is in effect their gateway into a lifetime of accomplishments in science."

All Intel Science Talent Search finalists are invited to Washington, D.C., where they will compete for scholarships including a top prize of $100,000 from March 6-11.

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