Researchers Mentor Intel Semifinalists

Each year, the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS 2012) recognizes 300 high school students and their schools as semifinalists while offering the nation's most prestigious pre-college science competition. The aim of the award is to further excellence in science, math, and/or engineering education.

This year’s semifinalists, who competed for $1.25 million in awards, were selected from more than 1,800 applicants and represented 497 high schools in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and three overseas schools. Each of the 300 students named a semifinalist in the Intel STS 2012 receives a $1,000 award for his or her outstanding research and, to recognize excellence in teaching and school support of individual student research, every school receives an award of $1,000 for each semifinalist named in the competition.

Among these promising teen-age investigators, four semifinalists for the 2012 competition conducted their research under the mentorship of Einstein and Montefiore investigators. They and their mentors are noted as follows, along with the focus of their research projects.

Gibran Mian, from Scarsdale High School, examined “Eye Bank Preparation, Injector Cartridge Pre-Loading, and Shipping of DSAEK Grafts: A LaboratoryStudy of Endothelial Survival,” with mentor Dr. Roy Chuck. Dr. Chuck is chair ofophthalmology and visual sciences at both Einstein and its University Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, as well as professor in the department and of genetics.
Emily Prentiss, from Ossining High School, explored “The Right Hand Knows What the Left Hand Does: High-Density Electrical Recording of Human Somatosensory Change Detection,” with Dr. John Butler as her mentor. Dr. Butler is a senior postdoc in the cognitive neurophysiology laboratory.
Apoorva Ganjam Talanki, from Edgemont High School, undertook “Microarray Studies Reveal Novel Anti-Hiv-1 Genes Induced by M. tuberculosisin Macrophages,” with mentoring from Drs. John Chan and Yong Chen. Dr. Chan is professor of medicine (infectious diseases) and of microbiology & immunology, while Dr. Chen is research fellow in medicine.
Catherine Wang, from Bronx High School of Science, studied “Structural and Functional Studies of Linker Histone H1 in Drosophila Development” under the mentorship of Drs. Arthur Skoultchi and Xingwu Lu. Dr. Skoultchi is professor and chair of cell biology, as well as the Judith and Burton P. Resnick Chair in Cell Biology, while Dr. Lu is a research fellow in cell biology.

Alumni of the competition have made extraordinary contributions to science, holding more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including seven Nobel Prizes and four National Medals of Science. Einstein congratulates these fine young investigators whose promise was demonstrated through their accomplishment, and their mentors who encouraged their enthusiasm while providing valuable experiences that will serve them well whatever career path they choose.