2004-3-31
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education
Report.
A seventeen-year-old boy from the northeastern state of
Massachusetts has won the top prize in the Intel Science Talent
Search. The competition is the oldest program in the United States
that honors the science projects of high school students. The Intel
Science Talent Search is sixty-three years old this year.
The winners receive a new computer and money for a college
education. A record one-thousand-six-hundred-fifty-two students from
forty-six states entered projects for the competition this year.
Their research involved nearly every area of science, including
chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, engineering, computer
science and social science.
Forty students were invited to Washington, D.C. for the final
judging. A group of well-known scientists judged them on their
research abilities, critical thinking skills and creativity. The
judges also questioned the students about scientific problems before
deciding on the winners.
The top winner is Herbert Mason
Hedberg of North Attleboro, Massachusetts. He received
one-hundred-thousand dollars for his college education. He developed
a faster, more effective method to tell if a person has cancer. He
explored a way to separate telomerase, an enzyme found in most
cancer cells. His findings have helped advance research into ways of
stopping cancer cells from growing. Herbert said he started the
project after watching his grandmother struggle against cancer. He
plans to be a doctor and continue doing medical research.
The second place winner is seventeen-year-old Boris Alexeev of
Athens, Georgia. He received a seventy-five-thousand dollar
scholarship. His research in computer science could be used in the
study of genetics.
The third place winner is seventeen-year-old Ryna Karnik of
Aloha, Oregon. She won fifty-thousand dollars for describing a new
way to build microchips used in computers.
Andrew Yeager of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was
chairman of the judges for the Intel Science Talent Search this
year. He said the competition is an excellent way to discover future
leaders in science and technology. Past competition winners have
gone on to receive many of the world's highest honors for science
and mathematics.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy
Steinbach. This is Steve Ember.