Oceanside student is Siemens finalist

Oceanside High School student Blake Smith’s study of a possible cure for cancer was one of 12 projects nationwide chosen to be a National Finalist in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology.

Smith’s project, “Using novel small molecule derivatives to therapeutically modulate erlotinib-resistant lung adenocarcinoma,” studied how modified anti-psychotic drugs could be used to treat cancer. Smith and his partner, Vickram Gidwani from the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, worked on the project at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

“Going into the competition, everyone has the opportunity to be a finalist,” Smith said. “And the fact that me and my partner are finalists is just great.”

More than 2,000 projects were entered into the competition this year. For this final round, 12 projects — six team projects and six individual projects — were selected to be National Finalists. The team and individual projects will be judged separately, so Smith and Gidwani are only competing against six other projects. If they win, they get to split the $100,000 prize. But they’ll be facing some stiff competition.

“These projects that we’re going to be up against are nothing to kid about,” Smith said. “And they’re all different disciplines, too. Last round, everyone was pretty much in biology, bioengineering — some sort of biochemistry. This round, there’s astrophysics, math. You don’t even know what to expect when they’re projects that aren’t even within your discipline.”

The finals will be held from Dec. 1 to 5 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. And his family will be there to support him the whole time.

“They didn’t go to the Regional Finals and they felt bad about it because my partner’s family was there,” Smith said. “But now they’re happy that we made it to the next round because they’re definitely going to be there to support us in D.C.

“They’re obviously ecstatic,” he added.