The Society for Science and the Public (SSP) named semifinalists for the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) yesterday, with Harker setting a nationwide record of 15 semifinalists.

After several months of dedicated research, competitors submitted their research last year, Nov. 12.  Each year, the competition selects 300 semifinalists from 1,800 senior entrants across the nation and awards them with $2000, of which half will go to their school. This year, 460 high schools in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and five American and international high schools from overseas participated.

“These students exhibit the kind of passion, intellectual curiosity, and ingenuity that energizes companies like ours,” Justin Rattner, president of the Intel Foundation, said in a press release.

This year, Harker had 15 semifinalists, which was more than any other school nationwide, setting an all-time record high. The list of students, followed by their project titles, is below:

• Shikhar Dixit (12): Immunomodulation by Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Line ARPE-19
• Andrew Jin (12): Shedding Light on Human Evolution: Machine Learning Algorithms for Systematic Genome-wide Discovery and Characterization of Adaptive Mutations
• Rohith Kuditipudi (12): Network-based Integration of High Throughput Gene Expression and Methylation Data Reveals New Insights into NAFLD Progression
• David Lin (12): Physical Properties and Evolution of Gravitationally Bound Halo Structures in Cosmological Dark Matter Simulations
• Cindy Liu (12): Characterizing Novel Binders as Tools for Understanding Chloride Transport Mechanisms
• Neil Movva (12): Force Responsive Reconstruction: Characterizing the Morphogenesis of the Periodontal Ligament through Complementary Biomechanical and Histological Study
• Pranav Reddy (12): An Integrative Computational Approach to Decipher Putative Genomic Drivers of Alzheimer’s Disease Susceptibility and Progression
• Anokhi Saklecha (12): The Utilization of RGD-coated Gold Nanoprisms and Optical Coherence Tomography to Target aVb3 Integrin: A Novel Method to Detect Circulating Tumor Cells
• Nikash Shankar (12): Encapsulation of Curcumin within Polymeric PLGA-PEG Nanoparticles Protects Neuro2A cells from Beta-Amyloid Induced Cytotoxicity and Improves Bioavailability
• Sriram Somasundaram (12): A Novel Design and Evaluation of Chitosan Nanoparticle Ocular Drug Delivery System Using Protein-Ligand Docking Simulations and pH-Dependent Corneal Permeation
• Kailas Vodrahalli (12): Improving Concentrated Solar Power Technologies: Planar Optical Waveguides for Transporting Concentrated Light to Enable Efficient Energy Conversion
• Steven Wang (12): Computer-Aided Genomic Characterization of Colorectal Cancer Driver Alterations for Oncogenic Transformation of Primary Colon Organoids
• Menghua Wu (12): Characteristics of Drug Combination Therapy in Oncology by Analyzing Clinical Trial Data on ClinicalTrials.gov
• Leo Yu (12): A Novel Algorithm to Unify CMIP5 Ensemble Climate Models for Optimal Climate Projections
• Andrew Zhang (12): The Dearth of Lithium-Rich Red Giants in Globular Clusters

Overall, the students compete for more than $1.6 million in awards, with $600,000 awarded to semifinalists, and the remaining $1 million awarded to finalists.

Cindy Liu (12) was pleasantly surprised to discover that she was a semifinalist, and believes that the cash awards are less important than the lessons she has learned throughout the research process.

“I felt like I tried my best on my project, learned a lot along the way about the specific field, and met a lot of amazing people,” she said. “Since I was happy with all the memories I had made, I didn’t think too much about doing well in research competitions, and I was really surprised when the results came out.”

Out of the pool of 300 semifinalists, 40 finalists will be chosen on all expenses paid trip in March 5-11 for a final judging session. There, the finalists will have a final judging session, meet with notable scientists, and display their work to the public.

Finalists will be competing for three Medal of Distinction awards in the fields of Basic Research, Global Good, and Innovation. First place winners will be awarded $150,000 each, second place winners will be awarded $75 thousand each, and third place winners will be awarded $35,000 each.

All finalists will receive at least $7,500, and winners will be announced on March 10 at the National Building Museum.