Harker Aquila interviewed Sreyas Misra about his selection as a finalist for Intel Science Talent Search.

Q: What was your project focused on?

A: My project was about PET scanners. A PET scanner is this medical imaging machine that doctors use to monitor and diagnose diseases like cancer. So the big issue with PET scanners is they’re really large and costly, so my project tried to make it a lot smaller and a lot less expensive.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your project?

A: Well a lot of the innovation pet scanners is being directed is to reduce costs, so that was the first thing that motivated me to pursue that path; But then I could make the scanner a lot smaller by using this different technique of imaging, and then that technique has been used before in fields like astrophysics and different imaging purposes, so this is the first time it’s ever been applied to PET, so that’s basically where I got the idea from.

Q: What was your reaction when you received the news that you were a finalist?

A: I was really surprised because, I don’t know, I just completely forgot that finalists were released that day. They called my mom first by accident, so then my mom told me to call up this phone number because she wasn’t allowed to tell me that Intel had called up, because it has to be a surprise. So then my mom told me that some college had called up because I forgot to put something in the application or something, so then I called up the number and then some Intel person greets me like “Congratulations”. And then, I don’t know, I wasn’t fully able to accept that I had gotten finalist until I could see it in writing the next day. The official announcement was made public the day after, but you’re not allowed to tell anyone on the day you receive the phone call, which is the night before, so it was pretty hard not to tell anyone.

Q: Who were/are your mentors for the project?
I worked with Dr. Craig Levin in Stanford, and he’s from the Stanford Molecular Imaging and Instrumentation Lab, and then at Harker, Mr. Spenner helped me a lot.

Q: Can you walk us through the application process? How long did it take?

A: Intel’s kind of like a college application. You have to fill out six essays. Intel is different from other science competitions because it tries to gauge your potential as a scientist, so only one component of the application process is your actual research paper. The other stuff is similar to college admissions essays, [where] they ask you things like “What qualities would make you a good scientist?”, “What do you think is the biggest problem in your field?”, and things like that. Those are pretty long essays, so if you have to do that, you should probably give yourself a good amount of time to do it, even though I did it like the day before it was due. I guess I got pretty lucky that it turned out okay. Then you have to turn in your research paper, which can be up to 20 pages long, and then you have to get recommendations from I think a math or science teacher, and then one from your mentor.

It was [due] around November, a few weeks after Siemens this year. I don’t remember exactly.

I guess you had quite a bit of time; it’s like colleges—you can start writing in like August but that never really happens.

Q: Can you give us a general timeline of your project from the beginning to the present?

A: I first got inducted into the lab in the summer of 2012, and then I did some background research and reading and stuff. I had to use a lot of new programs, so I was trying to understand how to use those. So I worked very little during the school year, the 2012 school year, my junior year, and then I did maybe like 80% or 90% of my work during the 2013 summer.

Q: What is the next step from here?

A: Well I have to travel to D.C., and then there they have separate judging, so I have to present to the judges. Then I get to go to the White House and I think meet Obama. Then they have lots of judging interview questions about your project and then general, random questions that tech companies ask their employees and stuff like that. I think March 6th is when I have to go.

Q: How was the actual research experience different from how you perceived it?

A: Well I didn’t think I would get stuck as much as I did get stuck. At certain times, I really hated the process because my mentors were really busy at times and so they couldn’t help me [and] I didn’t really know how to do anything, so it took me forever. I often got stuck for days or weeks at some really simple step, and I couldn’t get past that step because I didn’t really know what to do, so that was like really annoying and irritating at times. But I guess the biggest thing is [that] eventually, you’ll figure it out.

Q: What advice do you have for students who are thinking of pursuing a research project?

A: You should do it for the sake of learning and not for the competition and stuff, even though competition is nice as a validation for your research. You should do it because you really enjoy what you’re doing.