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The 53rd Annual International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) was held in Louisville, KY, on May 12-18, 2002. Sponsored by Intel, this year’s ISEF featured over 1,200 outstanding high school science students from the US and 37 other countries. Students competed individually or as teams in 14 different categories, including behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, computer science, engineering, gerontology, and medicine and health. In addition to the Grand Awards presented by the Intel Foundation and five other organizations, Special Awards were given by 93 scientific, professional, industrial, educational, and governmental organizations in the form of scholarships, tuition grants, summer internships, scientific field trips, and equipment grants. As is our tradition, the APS presented Special Awards in the form of cash prizes and student memberships to select finalists with the best projects in the physiological sciences, including cellular physiology, animal physiology, and neurophysiology.
The judging team was led by George Ordway from the Department of Physiology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and included APS members from Louisville and Lexington, KY. David Randall and Daniel Richardson from the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine joined Andrew Roberts, Dale Schuske, Frederick Miller, Richard Stremel, Ayotunde Adeagbo, and Jeff Falcone from the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
The APS First Place Award of $1,000 went to Jennifer Oakley Tshorn, a senior at John Jay High School in Katonah, NY. Jennifer’s project, “Action of Indole-3 carbinol in Breast Cancer,” also was the overall winner in the Medicine and Health category. Philippe Andre Bouchard won the APS Second Place Award of $500 with his project entitled, “The Role of Osteopontin Gene Expression on the Vasoprotective Effects of Estrogen on Vascular Injury.” Philippe is a sophomore at The Altamont School in Birmingham, AL. There was a tie for the APS Third Place Award between two students from Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Katherine Tronsor, a junior at Ephrata Senior High School in Ephrata, PA, was chosen from the Biochemistry category for her project, “Quercitin, A Nitric Oxide Inhibitor in Raw 264.7 Cells.” Megan Clarke Roberts is a junior at Carlisle High School in Carlisle, PA and was selected for her project, “Effect of FGFR and EFGR Antibodies on the Growth Rate of HL-60 Cells.” Elizabeth and Megan each received $500.
In addition to the four award winners, the APS also recognized six other students in the form of a one-year student membership in the APS and subscriptions to The Physiologist and News in Physiological Sciences. These outstanding science students were: Xiaolong Zhou, a senior at Miami Palmetto Senior High in Miami, FL (“Zinc Induces Apoptosis in Tumor Cells by Activating Caspases in a Unique Manner: Implications for Tumor Therapy”); Sam Adler Golden, a senior at John Jay High School in Katonah, NY (“Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor: A Possible Regulator of Reg Gene Expression in the Pancreas”); Irena Ilieva Yambolieva, a senior at East Wooster High School in Reno, NV (“Endothelium-derived Relaxing Factors in Canine Pulmonary and Mesenteric Arteries”); Sue Si Chen, a junior at Cordova High School in Cordova, TN (“Nuclear Factor-kB and Pro-inflammatory Mediators in the Infarcted Heart”); Crystal Mary-Lou Pinto, a senior at Francis Libermann Catholic High School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (“Antioxidants: Effects on Microglial Neurotoxicity”); and Ankita C. Baxi, a junior at Houston High School in Germantown, TN (“Expression of Constitutively Active Oncogene, c-Src, Disrupts Cell-cell Adhesion”).
Next year’s Intel ISEF will be held in Cleveland, OH on May 11-17, 2003. The one-day judging for APS Special Awards is always an interesting, rewarding, and enlightening experience for APS members who participate. For those in the Cleveland area, please consider joining the APS Special Awards judging team for the 2003 Intel ISEF. If interested, please contact Marsha Matyas in the APS Education Office
(mmatyas@the-aps.org).
Submitted by Dr. George Ordway on behalf of the APS Education Committee
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