America
Three Indian Americans win Intel Science Talent Search medals
By
Arun Kumar Washington, March 12
Three Indian-Americans
who won medals in the Intel Science Talent Search 2015, America's oldest
and most prestigious pre-college science and math competition, met
President Barack Obama at the White House with other finalists.
They
were among the 40 high school seniors, 13 of them of Indian origin, who
were in Washington for the finals of the contest to find the most
promising young US innovators creating the technologies and solutions
that will make people's lives better.
The finalists took home
awards totalling more than $1 million with Noah Golowich, Andrew Jin and
Michael Hofmann Winer each receiving first-place awards of $150,000 in
the competition run by Society for Science and the Public.
In
addition to the top awards, three second-place winners received awards
of $75,000 and three third-place winners received awards of $35,000.
Indian-American
Saranesh (Saran) Thanika Prembabu, 17, of San Ramon, California, won
the Second Place Medal of Distinction for Innovation.
Saran
studied how varying the layers of lead titanate and strontium ruthenate
in nanocrystal superlattices can affect their electrical and magnetic
properties, which could be harnessed for a variety of electrical and
computing applications.
Shashwat Kishore, 18, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, won the Third Place Medal of Distinction for Basic Research.
Kishore's
math project focused on representing abstract algebras using matrices.
His work developed a new relationship between these matrices and
topology.
Anvita Gupta, 17, of Scottsdale, Arizona, also won the Third Place Medal of Distinction for Global Good.
Gupta
used machine learning to "teach" a computer to identify potential drugs
for cancer, tuberculosis and Ebola. Preclinical trials are already
underway in China on the tuberculosis drugs that she identified.
"A
solid foundation in science, technology, engineering and math creates
the critical talent corporations and startups need to drive their
business and contribute to economic development," said Renee James,
president of Intel Corporation.
"These students serve as shining
examples of the incredible work being accomplished in STEM fields by
young people, and we are proud to recognize and reward these stellar
young researchers," said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for
Science and the Public and alumna of the Science Talent Search.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])