Quintet of Five Towns students named Intel semifinalists

Among 300 competing for $100,000 grand prize

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Lawrence High School students Arielle Bryn Chapin, Andrew Chen and Alexandra Leigh Tse, Jason Michael Kay from Hewlett High School and Avigael Sosnowik, from Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Hewlett Harbor were named Intel Science Talent Search 2013 semifinalists.

Chapin, an Atlantic Beach resident, conducted research on a project titled Do Adolescent Males Have an Advantage in Special Learning? Chen, who lives in North Woodmere, focused his work on the Incorporation of Graphene into Organic Polymer Solar Cells via Chemical Functionalization with Metal Nanoparticles, and Tse examined whether determination or smarts made a difference in her project “Grit vs. IQ: Assessing the Relative Impacts of Effort & Intelligence in Academic Success Among “Tweens.”

"It is very, very exciting," said Lawrence High School teacher Rebecca Isseroff, who helped guide Chen through the research process. "It shows when a student puts in the time, effort and academic muscle and effort."

Taking on one of the hot button issues of the day, Kay, a Hewlett resident, looked into the question of Why Do Bullies Bully An Examination of the Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors in Motivating and Enabling Bullying Behavior.

Being named an Intel semifinalist one day before the Oscar nominations were announced dovetailed nicely into Sosnowik’s project that studied The Coactivation of Positive and Negative Feelings Film Genres’ Effects on Adolescent Emotions. She lives in Lawrence.

The semifinalists of the Intel Science Talent Search were selected from among 1,712 entrants representing 467 high schools in 42 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and two U.S. schools overseas.

Each of the 300 students named a semifinalist will receive a $1,000 award for his or her outstanding research. Additionally, to recognize excellence in teaching and school support of individual student research, every school will receive an award of $1,000 for each semifinalist named. This award is used to further excellence in science, math, and/or engineering education.

The Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) is the nation's most prestigious pre-college science competition. Alumni of STS have made extraordinary contributions to science and hold more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including the Nobel Prize and National Medal of Science. Intel recognizes 300 students and their schools as semifinalists each year to compete for $1.25 million in awards. From that select pool, 40 finalists are invited to Washington, D.C. in March to participate in final judging, display their work to the public, meet with notable scientists, and compete for the top award of $100,000.