Regional Winners for 2009 Siemens Competition Announced at Georgia
Institute of Technology; Will Move on to National Finals and a
Chance at $100,000 Lanair Lett Wins Top Individual Prize; Neil Shah
and Katie Shpanskaya Win Top Team Prize ATLANTA, Nov. 7
/PRNewswire/ -- Research projects in the areas of Biochemistry and
Computer Science scored top marks this evening, as Lanair Lett of
Henderson, North Carolina and the team of Neil Shah and Katie
Shpanskaya of Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina respectively,
received the highest honors at the Region Six Finals of the 2009
Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the nation's
premier high school science competition. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO )
Tonight's winners will receive thousands of dollars in college
scholarships and be invited to compete at the National Finals in
New York City from December 3-7, where the winners of the six
regional competitions across the United States will vie for
scholarships ranging from $10,000 to the grand prize of $100,000.
The Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens
Foundation, is administered by the College Board. "These students
have just earned their place among the nation's greatest high
school scientists," said James Whaley, President of the Siemens
Foundation, based in Iselin, New Jersey. "Each year, the students'
work becomes more impressive, and in a record-setting year such as
this one, their achievements become even more outstanding. We are
proud to welcome them into our family of Siemens Scholars and look
forward to their participation at the national finals in New York
City." The students presented their research this weekend to a
panel of judges from the Georgia Institute of Technology, host of
the Siemens Competition Region Six Finals. Individual Winner Lanair
Lett, a senior at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
(NCSSM) in Durham, North Carolina won the individual category and a
$3,000 college scholarship for his biochemistry project. He
examined a specific protein's potential for improving therapeutic
methods for treating diabetes. Diabetes is the fifth leading cause
of death in America - affecting millions of people each year -
though its symptoms often lead to a manifestation into five of the
top ten causes, such as heart disease. The research aimed to
optimize treatments for diabetes, through a better understanding of
Beta cell growth. The title of the project is Histone Deacetylase 1
(HDAC-1) Increases B-cell Proliferation in 832/13 B-Cells and
Primary Rat Islets. "In his project on diabetes, Mr. Lett
demonstrated his systematic approach to examine the biochemical
role of a key protein called HDAC-1 in modulating the growth of
cells that could be used in transplantation therapy," said Dr.
Raquel Lieberman, Assistant Professor in the School of Chemistry
and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Mr. Lett
visibly shows passion and clear vision, two of the most important
research characteristics in scientific research," noted Dr. Yuhong
Fan, Assistant Professor in the School of Biology at the Georgia
Institute of Technology, "The level of knowledge he demonstrated
about the subject's past research, and supporting materials is
easily on a graduate level," she added. Mr. Lett suffers from
diabetes himself, as does his mother and grandmother, and it was
this personal experience that inspired him to conduct research
pertaining to the disease. He considers his grandmother - who runs
a 24-hr daycare, Nana's Nest, in Youngstown, Ohio - as his personal
hero, because to him she is the epitome of self-sacrifice and
dedication. This is Mr. Lett's first research competition, and his
dream job would be to work as a medical doctor while doing research
involving metabolism and bioenergetics. Mr. Lett serves as the
lifestyles editor of The Stentorian, his school newspaper. He was
most recently representing his school on the Regional Science Bowl
team, which won second place. Mr. Lett also participates in the
Science Educational Experience for High School Students (Project
SEED) Research Program, and volunteers as his school's Student
Ambassador as well as at the H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library. His
mentors for this project were Ms. Leslie Brinson, Biology Teacher
at NCSSM and Dr. Jeffery Tessem, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Sarah W.
Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center, Duke University, both in
Durham, North Carolina. Team Winners Neil Shah, a senior in
Northwest Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina; and
Yekaterina (Katie) Shpanskaya, a sophomore at Math and Science
School (Home School) in Raleigh, North Carolina, won the team
category and will share a $6,000 scholarship. Their project, titled
Supercomputing Analytical Discovery of Plasma Instabilities in
Fusion Energy Reactors, facilitates the understanding of fusion by
analyzing computer-simulated fusion reactor data and paves the way
for an efficient analysis of massive amounts of data on powerful
computer architectures, consisting of hundreds, or thousands of
processors operating in parallel. "While the problem the team
examined was within grasp of the pre-collegiate level, the methods
that they used were very expansive and impressive, having the
potential to be applied in analysis of many fields that have
massive amounts of data, like weather system modeling," said Dr.
Miroslav Begovic, Professor at School of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "The team
worked very well together, complementing each other's strengths and
communicating their parts incredibly well; we definitely couldn't
get them out of their comfort zone," added Dr. Ken Brown, Assistant
Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the
Georgia Institute of Technology. Mr. Shah is a National AP Scholar,
AP Scholar with Distinction and National Merit Semifinalist, as
well as a member of the Future Business Leaders of America and the
President of Weaver Academy Chapter. He won first place in the
State Network Design Competition, as well as fifth place in the
National Network Design Competition. Mr. Shah is the
Founder/President of the Speech and Debate Team. He is also
Co-Captain of FIRST Tech Challenge Team, and serves as a Weaver
Academy Student Ambassador. Mr. Shah is an A+ Certified IT
Technician Network, a Certified Security Professional and Microsoft
Certified Professional. He holds an Honor Status at the National
Forensic League, and volunteers in the Natural Science Center of
Greensboro. His hobbies include research, programming, reading, and
playing Ultimate Frisbee. Ms. Shpanskaya has been named to the A/B
Honor Roll at Broughton High School, and is a member of National
Young Leaders. Her favorite subjects are biology, calculus, civics
and economics, chemistry, and statistics. Ms. Shpanskaya is a
member of the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Students and
Technology in Academia and Research and Service (STARS) Alliance.
She co-designed and maintains a web site titled "How to Make
Humans." She is also a member of the Math Club, Broughton High
School Dance Club, Machine Learning and Data Mining Research Team
and Public Speaking Club. She also enjoys tutoring math to NCSU's
undergraduate students in her free time. She additionally partakes
in Animal Science community service and enjoys reading, fiction
writing and playing tennis as her hobbies. The team worked on this
project with the help of their mentors: Dr. Anatoli V. Melechko,
Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering Department,
North Carolina State University; Dr. Nagiza Samatova, Professor,
Computer Science Department, North Carolina State University and
Senior Scientist in Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Dr. C.S. Chang,
Research Scientist, New York University; Mr. Guruprasad Kora,
Research Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Dr. Paul
Breimyer, Research Scientist, Lincoln Lab, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Regional Finalists Regional Finalists each received
a $1,000 scholarship. Regional Finalists in the individual category
were: -- Tian-Yi (Damien) Jiang, North Carolina School of Science
and Mathematics, Durham, NC -- Aryan Khojandi, Thomas Jefferson
High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA -- Darpan
Patel, Joseph Wheeler High School, Marietta, GA -- Jinge Su, North
Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham NC Regional
Finalists in the team category were: -- Jonathan Bryan and Linus
Liang, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge, TN -- Di Deng and Patrick
Yang, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC
-- Xinran (Ryan) Liu and Grace Prazniak, Oak Ridge High School, Oak
Ridge, TN -- Shawn Tang, Brian Chiang and Eric Walsh, Troy High
School, Fullerton, CA The Siemens Competition The Siemens
Competition was launched in 1998 to recognize America's best and
brightest math and science students. A record number of 1,348
projects were received this year for the Siemens Competition, an
increase of 12 percent over 2008 figures. The number of students
submitting projects increased by 14 percent while more students
than ever, 2,151, registered to enter. Entries are judged at the
regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research
universities which host the regional competitions: California
Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Georgia
Institute of Technology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
University of Notre Dame; and The University of Texas at Austin.
Winners of the regional events are invited to compete at the
National Finals at New York University in New York City, December 3
- December 7, 2009. Visit http://www.siemens-foundation.org/ on
December 7, 2009 at 9:30 am EST to view a live webcast of the
National Finalist Award Presentation. You can also log into and
follow the Siemens Foundation on Twitter
(http://twitter.com/SFoundation) for the latest information and
announcements throughout this year's competition. About the Siemens
Foundation The Siemens Foundation provides more than $7 million
annually in support of educational initiatives in the areas of
science, technology, engineering and math in the United States. Its
signature programs, the Siemens Competition in Math, Science &
Technology and Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, reward
exceptional achievement in science, math and technology. The newest
program, The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, encourages
K-12 students to develop innovative green solutions for
environmental issues. By supporting outstanding students today, and
recognizing the teachers and schools that inspire their excellence,
the Foundation helps nurture tomorrow's scientists and engineers.
The Foundation's mission is based on the culture of innovation,
research and educational support that is the hallmark of Siemens'
U.S. companies and its parent company, Siemens AG. For more
information, visit http://www.siemens-foundation.org/. The College
Board The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association
whose mission is to connect students to college success and
opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board is composed of more
than 5,600 schools, colleges, universities and other educational
organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million
students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,800 colleges
through major programs and services in college readiness, college
admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and
teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®,
the PSAT/NMSQT® and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The
College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and
equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs,
services, activities and concerns. For further information, visit
http://www.collegeboard.com/. NOTE TO EDITORS: Broll and photos of
winners available on request.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGODATASOURCE:
Siemens Foundation CONTACT: Valerie Francois, Siemens Foundation,
+1-732-590-5292, ; or Alex Aizenberg, Weber Shandwick,
+1-212-445-8414, Web Site: http://www.siemens-/ foundation.org
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