Intel Science Talent Search 2016: Blair's Semifinalists and Finalists
Interviews courtesy of Sherrie Emoto, Magnet parent
On January 20th, Seniors Arnold Mong and Josephine Jessica Yu were named as two of the 40 national finalists of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search by Intel Corporation and the Society for Science & the Public. As finalists, they will compete for over $1,000,000 in awards from the Intel Foundation in Washington, D.C. on March 10-16.
Science Talent Search
All of the projects were overseen by Ms. Angelique Bosse, who told the Magnet Foundation: “All nine Blair Intel semifinalists, and especially Arnold and Josephine, have demonstrated a passion for their research topics and dedication to the senior research project process. With a solid foundation in math, science, and research methods from their curriculum at Montgomery Blair High School, and guidance from their mentors, Josephine and Arnold fully committed themselves to their respective research topics and took the initiative to share their findings with the research community. I am very proud of their being selected to represent Montgomery Blair as finalists in the 2016 Intel STS.” Blair Magnet coordinator Mr. Peter Ostrander added: "We are extremely happy for all nine Blair Intel semifinalists, and especially for Arnold and Josephine to be recognized for the great work that they have done not only with their research projects, but during their entire time at Montgomery Blair High School. We feel their selection as finalists is a great reflection of the hard work all of our students and staff put in on a daily basis."
Arnold and Josephine give thanks to the Magnet program, with Arnold saying: “I am very grateful that I have been selected as an Intel finalist, but I owe a ton to the Magnet program at Blair. I appreciate the effort that teachers put into preparing us for real-world science and the friends that helped inspire me to do work in physics.” Josephine added her gratitude: “I’ve grown significantly during my time in the Blair Magnet, and I am definitely grateful for the opportunities and preparation that this time has given me. Hopefully, I can one day give back to this program and help others as well.”
Silver Chips interviewed the semifinalists for a story published February 10th: Nine semifinalists from Blair in Intel Science Talent Search. MCPS media recently visited Blair and interviewed Arnold, Josephine, and Principal Johnson.
Arnold and Jessica were two of the nine semifinalists from Blair, which was the most Science Talent Search semifinalists from any school in the country this year. Seniors Eric Chen, Noah Fang, Yaelle Goldschlag, Amy Li, Raymond Lin, Brian Morris, and Rona Yu were also named semifinalists. Each semifinalist was awarded $1,000, and Blair will receive an additional $9,000 ($1,000 for each of the semifinalists) to be used to further science, math, and engineering education.
The Blair Magnet has had 44 STS finalists since its founding, with multiple finalists 13 separate times. Since Intel took over sponsorship of the competition in 1999, Blair has had more semifinalists (192) and finalists (34) than any other school in the country.
Magnet students have won first place in the competition twice (Jacob Lurie '96 and Michael Winer '15).
The students' projects are listed below:Eric Chen—Tumor Suppressor BRCA1 Prohibits Replication Catastrophe in Response to Replicative Stress during Pregnancy
Noah Fang—Searching for Dusty Clusters of Galaxies in a Herschel Catalog
Yaelle Goldschlag—Top-K Inexact Query Matching in Graph Databases
Amy Li—Incorporating Space Based Solar Power into a 5.8GHz Wireless Power Transmission Module
Raymond Lin—T-reflection in Quantum Mechanics
Arnold Mong—Exposing Non-Classical Properties of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger States in Perfect Correlation Cases
Brian Morris—Adapting the Poisson-influenced K-means Algorithm for a Larger User Base
Josephine Yu—Lattice and Continuum Models of Solitons and Vortices in Bilayer Graphene
Rona Yu—Whole Genome Sequencing Analysis of Childhood Disintegrative Disorder