Student scientists break new ground.String topology. Supercomputing. Systems biology Systems biology, a field of study in the biosciences, focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems. Particularly from 2000 onwards, the term is used widely in the biosciences, and in a variety of contexts. . Esoteric subjects to most, but not to the winners of the 2006-2007 Siemens Competition in Mathematics, Science and Technology, the nation's premiere high school science competition. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings presented the awards for the best projects, with top honors going to Dmitry Vaintrob of Eugene, Ore., and the team of Steven Arcangeli, Scott Horton Scott Horton is an assistant editor at Antiwar.com and is the host of Antiwar Radio. Previously, Horton was host of The Weekend Interview Show on the Republic Broadcasting Network in the United States. and Scott Molony of Oak Ridge, Tenn., for mathematics and bioinformatics, respectively. The $100,000 grand prize scholarship in the individual category was awarded to Vaintrob, a senior at South Eugene High School South Eugene High School is a public high school located in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was founded as Eugene High School around 1900, and was located at Willamette Street and West 11th Avenue in a brick building that later served as Eugene's city hall. , for his research in string topology, an area of mathematics focusing on shapes, which could provide knowledge to help mathematicians and physicists better understand fundamental forces of nature. In the team category another $100,000 grand prize scholarship was divided equally three ways and awarded to Arcangeli, Horton and Molony, all seniors at Oak Ridge High School  This disambiguation page lists articles about schools, colleges, or other educational institutions which are associated with the same title. , for developing a technique that could one day help scientists engineer biofuel bi·o·fuel n. Fuel such as methane produced from renewable resources, especially plant biomass and treated municipal and industrial wastes. bi from plants. "These young science stars are solving tomorrow's problems today," says Thomas N. McCausland, chairman of the board of the Siemens Foundation. A panel of nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians judged the finalists, who previously had competed in regional competitions held at leading research universities. Vaintrob was first turned on to string topology when his mentor, Dr. Pavel Etingof, professor of mathematics at MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology , proposed to him a shape theory problem from his own work, which Vaintrob amazingly solved within weeks. As a result of the Oak Ridge team's winning project, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle, LLC. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville. received a major grant to continue and further advance the students' research. The team's mentors are scientists at the laboratory. The Siemens Competition was started in 1998 and is funded by the Siemens Foundation, which annually provides nearly $2 million in scholarships for teachers and awards for students. Students can register online in May for the 2007-2008 competition. www.siemens-foundation.org |
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