New York, NY; January 24, 2016: Fourteen Indian-American students have been selected to compete for $1 million in prizes at the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search Competition this year by fielding high-level projects ranging from cancer vaccines to complex mathematical theories.
They are among the 40 US high school students who made it to the finals of the competition sponsored by Intel Corporation and conducted by the Society for Science & the Public.
Announcing finalists chosen from among 300 semi-finalists from across the nation Jan. 20, the president of the society, Maya Ajmera, said, “Finalists of the Intel Science Talent Search are the innovators of the future.”
“Their research projects range from highly theoretical basic research to innovative practical applications aimed at solving the most vexing problems,” she added.
Last year an Indian-American won second place medal and two others, third place medals in the competition. The finalists will travel to Washington in March for the competition that will award a total of more that $1 million in prizes from the Intel Foundation.
The previous winners of the Science Talent Search competition include 12 Nobel laureates, two Fields Medals awardees and 18 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellows. One of the MacArthur fellows is computer scientist Maneesh Agrawala, a 1990 Science Talent Search finalist.
Indians traditionally form one of the biggest ethnic contigents at the competition. Although the last time an Indian won the top prize was in 2012 when Nithin Reddy Tumma received it for cancer research, every year Indians have been winning other prizes. Last year, Saranesh (Saran) Thanika Prembabu won a second place medal and Shashwat Kishore, and Anvita Gupta were awarded third place medals.
