Indian students shine in competition

Updated on: Thursday, May 19, 2011

Indian school students have done exceedingly well in a global competition on scientific research with all participating students picking up awards.

Raghavendra Ramachanderan of Chennai received the best of category award and won $5,000 for his research into drug synthesis. Kolkata boy Manosij Dastidar received a second place grand award in the field of mathematical sciences. Ankur Vaishnav and Hetal Vaishnav of Rajkot also received a second place grand award in the field of environmental management. Pramoda Vishnumurthy and Bhargava Subbanna of Puttur received third place grand award in the field of environmental management; Abhishek Khanna and Akansha Verma of New Delhi received a fourth place grand award in animal sciences; and Diksha Gupta of New Delhi received an American Society for Microbiology award.

In addition to these winners, more than 400 finalists received awards and prizes for their groundbreaking work. Awards included 17 'best of category' winners who each received a $5,000 prize. The Intel Foundation also awarded a $1,000 grant to each winner's school and the IISEF-affiliated fair they represent. Matthew Feddersen and Blake Marggraff from Lafayette, California, were awarded the top prize. They received $75,000 and the Gordon E. Moore Award in honour of Intel co-founder and retired chairman and CEO for developing a potentially more effective and less expensive cancer treatment that places tin metal near a tumor before radiation therapy.

Taylor Wilson from Reno, Nevada was named an Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award winner and received $50,000. Taylor developed one of the lowest dose and highest sensitivity interrogation systems for countering nuclear terrorism. The team of Pornwasu Pongtheerawan, Arada Sungkanit and Tanpitcha Phongchaipaiboon from Thailand also received an Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award. This team determined that a gelatin found in fish scales could be successfully used in modern day food packaging—an invention that could have positive, long-term effects for the environment.

"We champion the IISEF because we believe that math and science are imperative for innovation," said Intel India president Praveen Vishakantaiah. "This global competition features youth trying to solve the world's most pressing challenges through science."

This year, over 1,500 young entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists were selected to compete in IISEF, the world's largest high school science research competition. They were selected from 443 affiliate fairs in 65 countries, regions and territories, including for the first time France, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Macao SAR of People's Republic of China.

The IISEF finalists are evaluated onsite by hundreds of judges from nearly every scientific discipline, each with a Ph.D. or the equivalent of six years of related professional experience in one of the scientific disciplines.

Times of India

Indian students shine in competition

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