Shannon Babb of Utah Named Top High School Scientist; Young Science Innovators Awarded $530,000 at Intel Science Talent Search

With a rare ability to combine research and remediation inenvironmental science, Babb, 18, of American Fork High School,conducted a six-month study to identify water quality problems in theSpanish Fork River. Babb, who started researching water quality at age13, analyzed the chemical and physical properties along the riverdrainage system. She concluded that humans, through urban andagricultural factors, have a negative effect on the water quality ofthe river. She contends that the water quality problem can be resolvedwith a combination of restructuring and educating the public thathousehold chemicals should not be poured down storm drains.

Yi Sun, 17, of The Harker School in San Jose, Calif., receivedsecond-place honors and a $75,000 scholarship. Sun discovered newgeometric properties of random walks, a mathematical theory withapplications to computer algorithms and polymers.

Yuan "Chelsea" Zhang, 17, of Montgomery Blair High School inRockville, Md., received third-place honors and a $50,000 scholarship.Zhang researched the molecular genetic mechanisms behind heartdisease. Specifically, Zhang implicated CX3CL1 molecules ascontributing to plaque build-up in the arteries. This knowledge canlead to the development of new medicines for atherosclerosis.

Sponsored by Intel since 1998, the STS is America's oldest andmost prestigious high school science competition and is part of thecompany's $100 million annual commitment to improving education aroundthe world.

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, a long-time advocate for improvingscience and math education, praised the contributions these youngscientists are poised to make.

"The talent represented at Intel STS is a dramatic illustrationthat investing in science and math education will pay great dividendsfor the future of American innovation," Barrett said. "The seed of thenext big scientific discovery could very well be planted in this roomtonight."

Rounding Out the Top 10

Fourth- through sixth-place winners each receive a $25,000scholarship:

-- Nicholas Wage, 17 of Appleton East High School, Appleton, Wis., for his project, "Character Sums and Ramsey Properties of Generalized Paley Graphs."

-- Jerrold Lieblich, 17, of Ward Melville High School, East Setauket, N.Y. for his project, "When the Brain Doesn't Hear What the Mind Does: A Lexical Approach to McGurk Adaptation."

-- David Kelley, 18, of Highland High School, Highland, N.Y., for his project, "Quantum Tunneling Effect of Electron Bubbles at the Liquid-Vapor Interface in Liquid Neon and Its Application to a Time Projection Chamber Neutrino Detector."

Seventh- through 10th-place winners receive a $20,000 scholarship:

-- Myers "Abe" Davis, 17, of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore for his project, "Bounding Sphere Images: A Parametric Bounding Volume Hierarchy for Collision Detection on the GPU."

-- Adam Solomon, 16, of John F. Kennedy High School, Bellmore, N.Y., for his project, "The Effects of Age on Brown Dwarf Spectral Features in the Near-Infrared."

-- Evan Gawlik, 17, of Pinehurst, N.C., attends the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, University of North Texas, for his project, "A Computational Study on New Krypton- and Argon-Bonded Molecules."

-- Kimberly Scott, 16, of Wellesley High School, Wellesley Hills, Mass., for her project, "A Partial Characterization of Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse Games on Fields and Vector Spaces."

The remaining 30 finalists receive a $5,000 scholarship, and eachfinalist receives an Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology-basednotebook computer.

Judging

In all, 1,558 students entered the competition this year,representing 486 high schools in 44 states, the District of Columbia,Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and an overseas school. Studentsranged in age from 15 to 18 with females representing 53 percent ofthe total entrants. From these entries 300 semifinalists were chosen.More than 100 top scientists from a variety of disciplines reviewedall the Intel STS entries to narrow the field to 40 finalists. Theyexamined each individual's research ability, scientific originalityand creative thinking.

The 40 finalists completed the final phase of the competition,including extensive interviews by the judging panel over the pastweek. The judging panel is chaired by Dr. Andrew Yeager, director ofblood and marrow transplant programs at the Arizona Cancer Center andprofessor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Arizona.

Background

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.

Through education programs such as the Intel STS, Intel works toinspire and educate children in communities around the world in theareas of science, mathematics and engineering. For more 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 Intel Centrino are trademarks orregistered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in theUnited States and other countries. Other names and brands may beclaimed as the property of others.