Intel Press Release

More Than $2 Million Awarded at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

World's Best Young Scientists Recognized and Rewarded at 48th Annual ISEF

LOUISVILLE, Kent., May 15, 1997 – The "World Cup" of science fairs came to an end today as top science students from around the world headed home with more than $2 million in scholarships and prizes. Nobel Laureates were in attendance to advise students, while hundreds of other scientists judged projects mounted by the 1,100 students from more than 20 countries who competed this week at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This year Intel joined with Science Service – the nonprofit organization that has run the ISEF since its inception – to become the first title sponsor in ISEF's 48-year history and to bring greater visibility to the world's only international science fair representing all the life sciences for grades nine through 12.

Top honors were given in a variety of categories at this year's Intel ISEF. Some of the key awards bestowed today for outstanding work in the field of science include:

The Glenn T. Seaborg Nobel Trip Awards, which include a trip to the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, in December, are awarded every year to the top-two, all-around competitors at the Intel ISEF. This year's recipients are:

  • Anne Jefferson of Winona, Minn., with a project titled "Pool 6 – Mississippi River Sediment Budget: Movement and Storage," which looks at the activity of sediment in the Upper Mississippi River; and
  • Logan Kleinwaks of Reston, Vir., for his project: "X-Ray Scattering from Rough Interfaces in a Langmuir-Blodgett Film," which explores various methods of studying the makeup of materials.

Awarded for the first time ever, the Intel Young Scientist Awards went to three students for their outstanding work in fields related to Intel's industry. Selected by a panel of top Intel technologists and scientists, each winner received a $40,000 scholarship ($10,000 per year for four years) to the college of his or her choice. The winners of the awards are:

  • Logan Kleinwaks of Reston, Vir., for his project detailed above;
  • Karen Mendelson of Worcester, Mass., for her project "An Inexpensive, Optical-Based, Fast Method for Measuring Carbon Monoxide in Whole Blood," which developed a portable, hand-held device for quickly measuring carbon monoxide levels in a person's blood;
  • Scott Sanders of Coral Springs, Fla., for his project: "Vector Quantization by Flux Integration Over BWT," which created a method of edge detection based on vector quantization using flux integration and a fuzzy logic algorithm.

The Intel ISEF Best of Category Award is a $5,000 cash prize given to the top point winner in each of the 15 competition categories. This year's winners are:

  • Behavioral & Social Sciences – Jan Linkenhoker of Vincennes, Ind., for "Conditioned Immunotherapy for an Acute Inflammatory Response: A Taste of Healing – Sweet Water"
  • Biochemistry – Adam Matthews of Honolulu, Hawaii, for "Effect of Nucleosomes on V(D)J Cleavage"
  • Botany – Joseph Hastings of North Attleboro, Mass., for "RT-PCR Analysis of Ethylene Mediated ACC Expression in N. tabacum"
  • Chemistry – Stuart Ibsen of Richland, Wash., for "Metallic Crystal Growth in Micro-Gravity"
  • Computer Science – Benjamin Schmidel of Kamuela, Hawaii, for "Virtual Mating: Exploration in Artificial Communication"
  • Earth & Space Science – Anne Jefferson of Winona, Minn., for "Pool 6 – Mississippi River Sediment Budget: Movement and Storage,"
  • Engineering – Magnus Samuelsson of Danderyd, Sweden, for "Sealog System 2000"
  • Environmental Sciences – Vishal Grover of Miami, Fla., for "Preventative Methods – Development of a Novel Amine-Isocynate Oil Spill Containment System: Four-Year Study"
  • Gerontology – Deepta Atre of Fort Wayne, Ind., for "Effects of Melatonin on Immune Cell Functions Pace II: Aging"
  • Mathematics – Davesh Maulik of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., for "Ordered Fields"
  • Medicine & Health – Jona Hattangadi of Orlando, Fla., for "HIV-1 TAT Protein as a Transactivating Transcriptional Regulator"
  • Microbiology – Merri Moken of Morristown, N.J., for "Disinfectant ‘Induced' Multiple Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Mutants: Four-year Study"
  • Physics – Logan Kleinwaks of Alexandria, Vir., for "X-Ray Scattering from Rough Interfaces in a Langmuir-Blodgett Film"
  • Team Projects – Renee Filion and Stefane Filion of Ontario, Canada, for "Probing the Depths -- Intelligent Submersible Probe"
  • Zoology – Melissa Chak of Bellmore, N.Y., for "Function of Epigenetic Ganoine Ridging in Paleoniscoid actinopterygii"

A detailed listing of additional awards and background information on the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair can be obtained online at http://www.sciserv.org.

The Intel ISEF is organized by Science Service Inc. Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Science Service is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting understanding and appreciation of science among people of all ages.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.