Herbert Mason Hedberg Is Nation's Top High School Scientist

Intel Awards $100,000 First-Place Scholarship, $530,000 in Total Prizes

Washington, D.C., March 16, 2004 - Intel Corporation today awarded Herbert Mason Hedberg of North Attleboro, Mass. a $100,000 scholarship and top honors in the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS), America's oldest and most prestigious high school science competition that is often called the "junior Nobel Prize."

Hedberg, 17, of North Attleboro High School, developed a faster, more efficient method to diagnose cancer by screening for telomerase inhibitors and ranking their potency as potential tumor suppressors. Hedberg, an aspiring physician-scientist, is a competitive swimmer and founder of "Exciting Elementary Science," a program to encourage scientific curiosity in young students.

The second-place prize, a $75,000 scholarship, went to Boris Alexeev, 17, of Cedar Shoals High School, Athens, Ga. His research deals with the theory of automata, a simple model of computation that is the mathematical basis for pattern matching and can be used in fields such as genetics and speech recognition. In addition to his love of research, Alexeev enjoys the outdoors and is an avid rock climber.

Ryna Karnik, 17, of Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, Ore. won the third-place $50,000 scholarship for her patent-pending design method for constructing microchips which may save developers time and money when creating and testing prototype semiconductor chips. Karnik enjoys tutoring elementary school students and is a Junior Olympics competitor in saber fencing.

"The Intel STS finalists serve as a reminder that many U.S. schools, teachers and students are excelling in science and math," said Craig Barrett, Intel chief executive officer. "These exceptional young scientists are already producing the kind of innovative thinking and solid results that this country absolutely must have to keep America the center of innovation."

• Fourth place: A $25,000 scholarship was awarded to Linda Brown Westrick, 18, of Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Mechanicsville, Va., for her mathematics project, "Investigations of the Number Derivative."
• Fifth place: A $25,000 scholarship was awarded to Eduard Reznik, 17, of Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, N.Y., for his physics project, "New Exact Solutions to Einstein's Equations."
• Sixth place: A $25,000 scholarship was awarded to Jayne Wolfson, 18, of Byram Hills High School in Armonk, N.Y., for her behavior and social sciences project, "An Exposition of the Cognitive Development in Toddlers Using Pretend Play."
• Seventh place: A $20,000 scholarship was awarded to Qilei Hang, 18, of Allegany High School in Cumberland, Md., for her engineering project, "Optimization of the Location for Two Drawpoint Holes in Conical Stockpiles."
• Eighth place: A $20,000 scholarship was awarded to Ann Chi, 17, of Terre Haute South Vigo High School in Terre Haute, Ind., for her chemistry project, "H2 and C2H4 Elimination Pathways in the Y + C2H6 Reaction."
• Ninth place: A $20,000 scholarship was awarded to Andrei Munteanu, 18, of Benjamin Banneker High School in Washington, D.C., for his earth and space sciences project, "A Novel Algorithm for Computing the Minimum Distance Between Two Elliptical Orbits."
• Tenth place: A $20,000 scholarship was awarded to Gordon L. Su, 18, of Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md., for his behavioral and social sciences project, "The Effects of Economic Globalization on Income Inequality in Post-Mao China."

The remaining 30 finalists will each receive a $5,000 scholarship and all students will receive an Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology-based notebook computer.

Washington, D.C., Highlights
While the week in Washington is highly competitive, there is more to this experience than judging. Finalists have met President George W. Bush, interacted with leading scientists and Nobel Laureates, and visited places of historical and political importance. In addition, the finalists are provided a chance to present their research at the National Academy of Science and most importantly, build friendships that will last a lifetime.

Judging
Students were judged by an independent committee, selected by Science Service, administrator of the competition since 1942. Winners were chosen based on their research ability, scientific originality, creative thinking and ability to apply science to the world around them. Chairing the committee was Dr. Andrew M. Yeager, director of Stem Cell Transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

"The Intel STS is an excellent way to discover America's future leaders in science and technology," Dr. Yeager said. "The judging committee selected these 10 students based on their overall knowledge of the sciences, ability to apply science to problem solving, ability to think creatively and uniquely, and passion for scientific research."

Background
Over the past 63 years, STS alumni have been recipients of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including five Nobel Prizes, three National Medals of Science, ten MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.

Founded in 1921, Science Service is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the understanding and appreciation of science among people of all ages through publications and educational programs. Over the years, the Intel STS competition has recognized more than 2,500 finalists with more than $5 million in scholarships. For more information on Science Service, visit www.sciserv.org.

Intel's sponsorship of the STS is part of the Intel® Innovation in Education initiative, a collaboration with educators around the world to improve the quality of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education to help students develop the higher-level thinking skills they need to participate and succeed in a knowledge-based economy. For more information, visit www.intel.com/education.

Intel and Intel Centrino are trademarks or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

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