Intel Science Talent Search Finalists Named; Record Number of States Send Young Scientists to Renowned Competition

Intel invests more than $100 million annually to improve educationaround the world and inspire and celebrate student success. The STS,sponsored by Intel since 1998, is America's oldest, most highlyregarded pre-college science competition. Alumni of the program holdmore than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors,including six Nobel Prizes, three National Medals of Science, 10MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.

"While as a nation we continue to struggle to improve science andmath education, these students give us hope for our future," saidIntel Chairman Craig Barrett. "Their grounding in science and mathwill help them make the right decisions in their professional careerswhether they provide answers to some of science's grand challenges orhelp guide the political and economic decisions that shape the 21stcentury."

About the Finalists

Selected from among 300 semifinalists, the finalists range in agefrom 16 to 18. They represent 19 states, with New York boasting themost finalists (13) followed by Maryland with four, and California andIllinois with three each. Utah is sending its first finalist since1994; Shannon Babb of Highland earned the opportunity to compete witha six-month longitudinal water quality study of the Spanish Fork Riverdrainage system. Lucas Moller of Moscow, Idaho, the first finalistfrom that state in more than 15 years, has examined the micromechanicsof Mars' dust, which may one day help facilitate safe planetaryexploration by humans.

The finalists will meet at the Science Talent Institute inWashington, D.C., March 9-14 where they will interact with topscientists and participate in rigorous judging sessions. Thewide-ranging student projects on display at the National Academy ofSciences will include research examining human audio processing, whichcan be applied to speech recognition technology and cochlear implants;a study of mosquito-borne equine illnesses; development andoptimization of a remotely piloted Micro Air Vehicle; and a new methodfor determining the age and mass of brown dwarf stars.

This year's diverse group of finalists, 17 females and 23 males,includes two patent holders, a published author, a certified medicalresponse technician, a spelunker and three Eagle Scouts. In additionto a pursuit of scientific excellence, 76 percent of this year'sfinalists play a musical instrument, 63 percent are fluent in alanguage other than English, 41 percent work on their schoolnewspapers, and five students have perfect scores on the newthree-part Scholastic Aptitude Test.

The Awards

The top prize in the Intel STS is a $100,000 college scholarship.The second-place finalist receives a $75,000 scholarship, and thethird-place finalist receives a $50,000 scholarship. Fourth- throughsixth-place finalists are each awarded $25,000 scholarships, andseventh- through 10th-place winners receive a $20,000 scholarship. Theremaining 30 finalists each receive a $5,000 scholarship. In additionto the all-expense-paid trip to Washington, all students attending thecompetition receive an Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology-basednotebook computer. Winners will be announced at a black tie gala onMarch 14.

Science Service is the nonprofit organization which hasadministered the Science Talent Search since its inception in 1942.The mission of Science Service is to advance the understanding andappreciation of science. In addition to its education programs,Science Service publishes the weekly magazine Science News. For moreinformation on Science Service, visit www.sciserv.org.

Intel's long-standing commitment to education is fueled by itsmission to invest not only in its business and industry, but in thefuture of young people. Through education programs such as the IntelSTS, Intel works to inspire and educate children in communities aroundthe world in the areas of science, mathematics and engineering. Formore information, visit www.intel.com/education.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, developstechnologies, products and initiatives to continually advance howpeople work and live. Additional information about Intel is availableat www.intel.com/pressroom.

Intel, the Intel logo, and Centrino are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the UnitedStates and other countries.

Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Intel Science Talent Search 2006 Finalists
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State Finalist Hometown Student School
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Alabama Florence Jennifer Taylor Florence High
School
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California Palos Verdes Genevieve Williams Redondo Union High
Estates School
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San Diego Michael Viscardi Josan Academy
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San Jose Yi Sun The Harker School
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Colorado Colorado Springs Adam Sidman William J. Palmer
High School
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Connecticut South Glastonbury Kiran Pendri Choate Rosemary
Hall
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Westport Jonathan Sellon Staples High School
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Florida Coral Springs Shoshana Tell Pine Crest School
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Idaho Moscow Lucas Moller Moscow High School
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Illinois Chicago Letian Zhang Illinois Math &
Science Academy
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Geneva Xin Wang Illinois Math &
Science Academy
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Northbrook Sukrit Ranjan Glenbrook North
High School
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Louisiana Slidell Kate Lowry Louisiana School
for Math, Science
& the Arts
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Maryland Baltimore Myers Davis Baltimore
Polytechnic
Institute
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Clarksville Jeffrey Xing River Hill High
School
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Rockville Yuan Zhang Montgomery Blair
High School
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Silver Spring Minh-Phuong Huynh- Montgomery Blair
Le High School
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Massachusetts Wellesley Kimberly Scott Wellesley High
School
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Michigan Northville John Zhou Detroit Country Day
School
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North Pinehurst Evan Gawlik Texas Academy of
Carolina Mathematics &
Science
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New York Armonk Joseph Vellone Byram Hills High
School
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Bedford Allison Gardner Byram Hills High
School
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Bellmore Adam Solomon John F. Kennedy
High School
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Centereach Irina Zaitseva Centereach High
School
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East Setauket Jerrold Lieblich Ward Melville High
School
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East Setauket Harley Zhang Ward Melville High
School
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Highland David Kelley Highland High
School
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Merrick Brittany Russo Sanford H. Calhoun
High School
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New York Sarah Rapoport Horace Mann School
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Northport Eric Meyerowitz Northport High
School
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Port Washington Carmiel Schickler Paul D. Schreiber
High School
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Suffern Sheela Krishnan Suffern High School
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Syosset Diane Choi Syosset High School
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Ohio Bellbrook John Moore Dayton Christian
High School
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Oregon Portland Elyse Hope Oregon Episcopal
School
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West Linn Sergio-Francis Oregon Episcopal
Zenisek School
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Utah Highland Shannon Babb American Fork High
School
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Virginia Oakton Justin Solomon Thomas Jefferson
High School for
Science &
Technology
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Washington Shoreline Anna Mork Shorewood High
School
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Wisconsin Appleton Nicholas Wage Appleton High
School East
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For biographies on the 40 finalists, visithttp://www.sciserv.org/sts/65sts/finalists.asp.