By:Andrew Coen
The four students were among 300 named Intel semifinalists on Jan. 14. A total of 1,627 applicants from 527 high schools nationwide entered the competition, informally known as the junior Nobel Prize.
The local semifinalists are Michelle Forman, 17, a student at Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls (SKA) in Hewlett Bay Park; Marisa Mann, 17, from Hewlett High School; Gene Sussman, 17, from Lawrence High School; and Jonathan Hefter, 18, from Davis Renov Stahler High School for Boys (DRS) in Woodmere. Each will receive $1,000 in scholarship money and a matching amount for their schools.
Intel officials said that 40 finalists will be announced on Jan. 29, and will compete for $530,000 in prizes, including a $100,000 scholarship for the first-place winner and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in mid-March.
I-m very shocked, and I did not expect this, said Forman, who was also named a Siemens Westinghouse semifinalist in October. I feel like those long hours in the lab paid off.
This marks the first time in the 10-year history of the school that SKA can claim an Intel semifinalist, after having many Siemens Westinghouse winners during the past few years. It-s nice to be included with all the other Intel semifinalists, said Rebecca Isseroff, Forman-s advisor for the Intel competition.
Forman-s project is titled Nanostructured Thin Films for Hydrogen Storage, and explores the possible uses of hydrogen as an alternative energy source. This is so we can use hydrogen in cars and a lot of other kinds of devices, she said.
Forman worked at SUNY-Stony Brook-s Garcia Research Scholar Program last summer in preparation for both the Siemens Westinghouse and Intel competitions. She will attend Columbia next fall, is editor of SKA-s literary journal, plays the saxophone, mentors a mentally disabled 7-year-old child, volunteers in the summer and on weekends with a group of adults with mental disabilities and is on the school-s volleyball team.
Intel semifinalists are nothing new for Lawrence High School, which has had at least one in each of the past 10 years in the annual competition.
Gene Sussman-s project is titled AKT2 Kinase Activation and Its Relation to Celluar Stress and Chemoresistance in Ovarian Cancer. This could be a way to use known methods to stop the spread of cancer, he explained.
Sussman, who has been working on the project since his freshman year, conducted research for two summers at the H. Lee Moffitt Center at the University of South Florida Medical School.
Lawrence High School Principal Dr. Steven Kussin recalled, When I was touring the building, I happened to stop by the projects classroom, and it was the time that Gene Sussman was presenting his Intel project, and there and then I knew this had winner [written] on it just by the presentation he made to the class. It was a terrific project with a terrific presentation, and we-re just thrilled for him, considering the time and effort he put into it.
Sussman has earned other science honors in the past, including first place in medicine and health at the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. He has also competed in the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, where he finished fourth in the world in medicine and won a scholarship from the Endocrine Society.
Sussman, accepted by early action to Yale, is a member of the National Honor Society and the only Lawrence senior earning distinction as an AP Scholar with Honor, having achieved perfect scores on all five AP exams. He is section editor of the yearbook, law team president and a community volunteer.
Hewlett High School senior Marisa Mann-s project, titled, Regulation of the Phytochrome Gene Family in Ceratopteris, was the same one she submitted when she was named a Siemens Westinghouse semifinalist last October. I was trying to isolate the two genes and by characterizing them, you found different expressions than from previous research, she said.
Unlike many Intel semifinalists, Mann conducted almost all of her research at her high school, with the exception of a couple of trips to Queens College. Since [the project] was designed in the high school, it took a lot more time, said Terrence Bissondial, who served as Mann-s mentor during her three years of working on the project. I knew it was going to win.
She did a wonderful project, said Hewlett High School Principal Dr. Joyce Bisso. I-m so thrilled for her.
In addition to Mann-s long hours in the science lab, she also spends a lot of time on the athletic fields, playing varsity soccer and running track. Headed to Tufts University, she is also involved with Leadership Corps and the After Math program, and she is a member of the National Honor Society. Mann plans on majoring in biochemistry at Tufts and is hoping to pursue a career in medicine.
Jonathan Hefter-s project is titled, The Thermally Stabilizing Effects of Mechanisms of Clay Fillers on Acrylic Paints, Coatings and Adhesives and, like Forman, he worked on it at Stony Brook-s Garcia Program last summer. His project seeks to prove a theory about the flame-retardant properties of clay fillers in acrylic materials. The research will help manufacturers of acrylic paints, glues and coatings make them safer to use. By mixing clay fillers, Hefter was able to show that as the outer edge of a flaming acrylic burns, it leaves behind a clay shell that cuts off the oxygen supply, thereby eliminating the flame and protecting the rest of the acrylic material.
He was trying to get an acrylic paint, which is very flammable and dangerous, to change [its] chemical nature ... to make sure that it does not explode, but at the same time maintains its aesthetic quality, said Dr. Mirian Rafailovich, director of the Garcia Research Center, who helped Hefter with the project.
It was very well deserved and he worked very hard, Rafailovich said of Hefter-s being named an Intel semifinalist.
Hefter, a senior at DRS, has been a semifinalist in the Westinghouse competition, a first-place winner at the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair and fourth-place finisher at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Cleveland.
I feel ecstatic at the great honor Intel awarded me, Hefter said. I am grateful to have been selected out of the many outstanding projects they usually review.
His principal, Harvey Feldman, said, The entire staff and student body are thrilled and excited at Jonathan-s success in being named an Intel semifinalist. Jonathan-s hard work, perseverance and talent overcame many obstacles to arrive at this achievement. He has acted as a catalyst for many other students to get involved in extracurricular projects.
Hefter, a Woodmere resident who has been accepted at the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, is on his school-s debate team and is a Talmud Scholar. After graduation in June, Hefter will spend a year in Israel to complete his Talmudic studies before heading to Philadelphia, where he intends to study engineering, business and technology.
Of the 300 semifinalists, 75 are from Long Island, which leads all regions of the country. New York led all states with 155 semifinalists, 132 more than second-place Maryland, which had 23.
The Intel Science Talent Search began in 1940, and is the country-s oldest pre-college science competition. Since its inception, the competition has awarded more than 2,400 finalists millions of dollars in scholarships.
