Rockville Centre teen is Intel semifinalist

Science pays for Natalie Correa of Rockville Centre, who has made it to the semifinals of the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search.

In the nationwide competition, high school students conduct original, independent scientific research. Each of the 300 semifinalists wins $1,000 and an additional $1,000 for their school. Forty will be named finalists on Jan. 21, and will travel to Washington, D.C., in March and compete for $1 million in awards.

A senior at St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, Correa, 17, studied the rate of egg cell loss in female mice to predict when they would reach menopause. Her project was titled “Mastering the Biological Clock.”

“I wanted to make women more knowledgeable about the time of their reproductive biology,” she said.

Normally scientists use the number of egg cells in a female to predict menopause, Correa explained, but she found that the rate of egg cell loss was a more accurate predictor. “The good thing about that is this new number can be altered,” she said, adding that while women — and mice — are born with a finite number of eggs, the rate of egg cell loss is affected by hormones in the menstrual cycle and can be changed.

Correa was home sick from school when the semifinalists were announced on Jan. 7. “I saw my name and almost cried,” she said. “I was really shocked. Later on I got the email from Intel.”

St. Francis has a science research program for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Sophomores learn to read scientific literature and contact potential mentors at research labs. Juniors learn presentation skills and how to write an abstract.

“The ultimate goal is for them to conduct their own novel research,” said James Boylan, the school’s director of science research, “and do it with a professional or scientist who does that kind of research.”

In the summer of 2013, Correa spent a week at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, learning about its technology. Last summer she was a fellow at the lab, taking part in the Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program, where she did her research and wrote her scientific paper. According to Boylan, Correa was the only high school student at the lab.

The next step for her research, she said, is human trials, but right now she is busy sending out college applications. She’s not sure where she will end up next year, but she is looking at research-oriented schools because she wants to continue her exploration of reproductive biology.

When she’s not studying, she enjoys photography and exploring. “I like outdoorsy things,” Correa said. “Over the summer, when I wasn’t in the lab, I was hiking a lot.”

She is the third-oldest of five children. She has an older brother and sister, Peter, 38, and Delilah, 32, and a younger brother and sister, Brandon, 14, and Lauren, 8. Her mother, Maria, is a lawyer and her father, Peter, manages a restaurant in Greenvale.