California Teen Wins Top Honor in Siemens Competition; Others Earn Scholarships

Dec. 2011

Western News

Andrew Xu, Lowell High School, San Francisco, Calif.; and Kevin Tian, Westwood High School, Austin, Texas (Mathematics); Kevin Chang, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton, Texas

A Cupertino, Calif., teen took home the nation’s top individual science prize for high school students earlier this month, winning a $100,000 scholarship for her work with cancer stem cells. Angela Zhang, a senior at Monta Vista High School. won the grand prize in the Individual category of the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.

Administered by the College Board, the Siemens Competition is a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, which supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The 13th annual awards were presented earlier this month at The George Washington University, host of the 2011 Siemens Competition National Finals.

“It is a remarkable day for American innovation when our high school students do science research at this level,” said Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, president of the Siemens Foundation. “I hope other students will follow their example and embrace STEM subjects with such vigor. These young innovators are poised to drive the next generation of advances in science and technology.” Zhang’s project, “Design of Image-Guided, Photo-Thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells,” won high praise from the judges.

“Angela created a nanoparticle that is like a Swiss army knife of cancer treatment,” said competition judge Tejal Desai, a professor in the department of bioengineering and therapeutic sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. “She showed great creativity and initiative in designing a nanoparticle system that can be triggered to release drugs at the site of the tumor while also allowing for noninvasive imaging. Her work is an important step in developing new approaches to the therapeutic targeting of tumors via nanotechnology.”

In her project, Zhang  aimed to design a targeted gold and iron oxide–based nanoparticle with the potential to eradicate cancer stem cells through a controlled delivery of the drug salinomycin to the site of the tumor. The multifunctional nanoparticle combines therapy and imaging into a single platform, with the gold and iron-oxide components allowing for both MRI and photoacoustic imaging.

“Angela’s commitment to the research was truly impressive,” Desai said. “She has a deep understanding of the multitude of disciplines that went into her project, from designing the nanoparticles to showing their efficacy in vivo.”

Zhang  won the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair Grand Award for medicine and health science in 2011 and 2010. She plays golf and the piano, and would like to major in chemical or biomedical engineering or physics. She is a 2010 Siemens Competition Regional Finalist who began her work on this project in 2009 and spent an estimated 1,000 hours on her research. Zhang  hopes to become a research professor. Her mentor was Zhen Cheng of Stanford University.

Six individuals and six teams competed at the National Finals after winning one of six regional competitions in November. They presented their research to a panel of judges that included nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians headed by lead judge Michael W. Plesniak, chair of the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at The George Washington University.

Ziyuan Liu and Cassee Cain, seniors at Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee., will share the $100,000 grand prize in the Team category for using new gaming technology to analyze human walking patterns — work that could ultimately be used in prosthesis design for amputees.

Other students in the Western Region also were awarded scholarships as Finalists or Regional Finalists in the Team or Individual categories:

Helen Jiang, Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, Calif. ; and Jeffrey Ling, Palo Alto Senior High School, Palo Alto, Calif.; (Bioengineering)

Teams named National Finalists

• $20,000 scholarship — Andrew Xu, Lowell High School, San Francisco, Calif.; Kevin Chang, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton, Texas; and Kevin Tian, Westwood High School, Austin, Texas (Mathematics)
• $10,000 scholarship — Jeffrey Ling, Palo Alto Senior High School, Palo Alto, Calif., and Helen Jiang, Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, Calif. (Bioengineering)

Individuals and teams named Regional Finalists ($1,000 scholarships)

• David Cheng, Calabasas High School, Calabasas, Calif.
• Lucy Cheng, The Harker School, San Jose, Calif.
• Manoj Kanagaraj, Troy High School, Fullerton, Calif.
• James Thomas, Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose, Calif.
• Paulomi Bhattacharya, The Harker School, San Jose, Calif., and Eesha Khare, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, Calif.
• Daniel Chiou and Barry Chen, Troy High School, Fullerton, Calif.
• Johnny Ho, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, Calif., and Charles Liu, Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, Calif.
• Viola Mocz and Jonathan Teraoka, Mililani High School, Mililani, Hawaii
• Hansen Qian, Saratoga High School, Saratoga, Calif., Yon Jang, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va., and Matthew Rudin, Half Hollow Hills High School West, Dix Hills, N.Y.
• Victoria Petrova, South High School, Torrance, Calif., and Ilana Teicher, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Teaneck, N.J.
• David Nam, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, Calif., Alina Ranjbaran, Garden City High School, Garden City, N.Y., and Tom Wang, The Wheatley School, Old Westbury, N.Y.

Launched in 1998, the Siemens Competition is the nation’s premier science research competition for high school students. An all-time record of 2,436 students registered to enter the Siemens Competition this year for an unprecedented 1,541 projects submitted. There were 317 semifinalists and 96 regional finalists, representing 21 states. Entries are judged at the regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research universities that host the regional competitions: California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas at Austin.