By JOSEPH KELLARD
David and his classmate Natasha Degen learned they were chosen as semifinalists in the 61st Intel Science Talent Search contest.
"I went berserk, but I calmed down before I went into physics [class] because I knew Natasha was in there and I didn't want to be giddy if she didn't know," said David, who wished to be the one to tell her about their mutual success. But chemistry teacher Michele Pergolis beat him to the punch.
"I was very surprised," Natasha said.
"I was not expecting [to win] at all," remarked her partner.
The two OHS seniors are among 300 semifinalists out of 1,562 entrants in the contest from nationwide schools and among the 88 students from Long Island alone who were named winners. Their accomplishments also mark the third consecutive year OHS has produced Intel semifinalists, and the first time the school has produced two winners in the same year.
David, 17, was awarded for his project "Determination of Radiation-Induced Chromosomal Aberrations in Cells Deficient for ATM Function." More simply put, his project involved stressing a cell's repair machinery with radiation by breaking the DNA. Usually, depending on the subject of study, preparation for an Intel project can stretch over two summers. David managed to begin his research this past June, and he completed it in time to submit to Intel in November.
"I had done some research that is the basis for ATM, but I had never even heard of the field I was studying until last March. In the span of about 8 weeks [during last] summer, I had to learn the lab, the techniques, intricacies of the research and perform the experiment. But certain [other] aspects of my research were extremely time consuming." David conducted his work at Columbia University Center for Radiological Research, under mentor Dr. Tej Pandita, an assistant professor.
Natasha, 17, also put long hours into her project, but she said the expenditure of time had much to do with the nature of her subject. While some people's research, like David's, was more intensive over a 6-8 week span, Natasha's work demanded two years of research.
"Genetic and Physiological Characterization of the D1-18 and D1-21 Auxin-resistant Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana" was the project that earned her semifinalist status. Auxins are plant hormones and Arabidopsis thaliana is a flowering plant that is widely used as a model organism in plant biology.
The focus of her research was to find and learn more about auxins in plants, and an innovative aspect of her work involved genetically and physiologically characterizing the mutants of certain plants.
"With my own research, I had to measure root lengths less than a millimeter long under a microscope for thousands of plants. And because I was working with plants, I had to wait for different life spans to do crossbreeding," Natasha said.
Her research lead her to labs in Cold Spring Harbor and Adelphi University, where she was under the wing of the school's associate professor of biology, Dr. Lawrence Hobbie.
"It takes two summers worth of work, a tremendous amount of tenacity, patience, intelligence and maturity," said Pergolis, about the dedication required to become an Intel semi-finalist. "Not every student is cut out to do this type of work. I've been working with Natasha and David for four years and it's been a pleasure. They have exceptional work ethics and are very creative thinkers."
David is secretary of the Interact Club, is involved in the Law Club, World Interest Club and Model Congress. He's applied to a number of colleges, including Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell, and he plans to major in either biology or political science, as he considers a career as a physician.
Natasha is the editor-in-chief of the OHS student newspaper "Sider Press," treasurer of Thespian Society, and a member of Partners for the Future Program, a science research project. She has been accepted to Princeton University, and she hopes to major in art history or pre-med, as she considers a career in medicine.
"In terms of science, Natasha and David have been two of the top students for quite a while," said Lou Siegel, chairperson of science program. "They've both worked very diligently for a long period of time to get to this. Intel takes a tremendous amount of work."
In addition to Pergolis and Siegel, science research teacher Renee Barcia and physics and research teacher Evan Young were intricately involved in guiding the semifinalists through their projects. Further, in addition to David and Natasha, fellow students Sanaa Mithaiwala, Rachel Adler and Adam Michaelson also entered the contest.
While Natasha has long been interested in science, her involvement in the Science Program inspired a deeper interest in the subject. And while she doesn't foresee scientific research as an endeavor that is necessarily in her future, she and David regard it as a noble profession that is under appreciated.
David said that his $1,000 prize money that semifinalist receive will go to his parents, who drove him "all over the place and for shelling out a huge amount of money for me to go to Columbia University." Natasha said her work in the contest would have been impossible without her parents' support.
In February, Intel will choose 40 finalists to attend the Science Talent Institute in Washington, D.C. in March. During their trip, the finalists will participate in a final judging process and share in $530,000 in scholarships. The top prizewinner will receive a $100,000 scholarship.
