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Teen wins $10^5 in science competition

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posted on Mar, 19 2007 @ 05:11 PM
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Haha! I made my title very science-y!

Many of you have probably already read this story, but I'm going to repost it here:


Okla. Teen Wins $100,000 Science Prize
www.physorg.com...

(AP) -- A 17-year-old girl won a scholarship worth $100,000 for building an inexpensive yet accurate spectrograph that identifies the "fingerprints" of different molecules.

Mary Masterman, a senior at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City, was named the winner Tuesday of the annual Intel Science Talent Search.

More than 1,700 high school seniors across the nation entered the contest, which is in its 66th year.

Spectrographs, which measure wave lengths, are used in research such as astronomy and medicine and in industry. For example, they can be used as a sensing device to look for explosives or drugs or to help determine how old an art work is through its pigments.

They can cost as much as $100,000, but Masterman's invention - made of lenses, a laser, aluminum tubing and a camera - cost less than $1,000, Intel said.

Masterman received the honor from Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett during a banquet Tuesday night in Washington.

"It was a complete surprise," Masterman said. "I wasn't expecting it."

The 40 finalists spent the last week in Washington, where they exhibited their projects at the National Institute of Science and met government officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

Masterman said she has been interested in science "ever since I was little. I can't remember ever not being interested." She credits her parents with encouraging her.

She said she has not decided where she will attend college but would eventually like to become a physicist or chemist.

Among the former winners of the competition's top award are six Nobel Laureates, three National Medal of Science winners, 10 MacArthur Foundation Fellows and two Fields Medalists.

"You're not only dealing with the top young person in the science field in the country in Mary, but you're dealing with 40 finalists who are doing breaking-edge research in total," said Brenda Musilli, Intel's director of education. "It's really something that's hard to imagine, how a young person like Mary could even achieve this level of capability at such a young age."


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Congrats to the winners!

These kids are incredibly intelligent, and the science/math that they are doing aren't, for the most part, re-hashes of already known science. Their work is groundbreaking. Check out some of the other projects here. The ingenuity needed to create something that typically costs $20k - $100k for under $1000 is mind-boggling.

Some of the other competitors worked on things of which I've never heard. Hochschild cohomology? Yeah, that's way above my head.

Also of note is that six of the ten winners are young women. Way to go ladies. Science for too long has been quite the dearth of the female perspective. Let's all hope it continues.

[edit on 3/19/2007 by supercheetah]

[edit on 3/19/2007 by supercheetah]



posted on Mar, 19 2007 @ 06:13 PM
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Yeah I have to agree, the stuff described in the link is way above my head. ^^; But whatever, all science = good, right?



 
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