By Angela Marshall
South Sider wins Intel honors
Courtney Rubin's first inclination that she might have been named a semifinalist in the Intel science competition came when she saw science teacher Richard Kurtz outside her orchestra class on Wednesday, Jan. 17.
"Crazy Mr. Kurtz was dancing up and down in the hallway," Courtney recalled with a laugh.
And when orchestra class was over, and the news was confirmed, Courtney ran to call her father. "My dad was in the middle of a court case, so I said interrupt him."
Courtney, one of only 300 students nationwide so honored this year, is the first Intel semifinalist from South Side High School since 1986.
"It was a big, big shock," she said this week.
The honor is a first of sorts for Kurtz, too. He has coached students elsewhere into the competition's semifinals, but Courtney is his first honoree at South Side. He joined the science department there two years ago.
"She's one of the best students I've ever had," Kurtz said. Courtney blushed and quietly said thank you. Two other students from Rockville Centre were entered in the competition, Kimberly DiTata and Sriram Narasimhan. "They did amazing work also," Courtney said.
Kurtz agreed. "I think that they were all equally deserving," he said.
Courtney's project is on the genetic variations among Reticularmes Flavipes from different geographic locations. In other words, she studied how one type of termite's genetics change depending on where it lives.
When asked why she chose termites, Courtney smiled and said, "It was all Mr. Kurtz."
Kurtz thought such a study would make Courtney stand out because of its uniqueness and because "they're such a cool little insect."
In order to do the necessary experimentation, Courtney needed two things: termites and a mentor to guide her.
Kurtz soon found an extermination company willing to part with an unlimited supply of termites and a professor at Hofstra University willing to help with the research.
Prof. Dorothy Pumo is the chair of Hofstra's department of biology. "I think it is terrific," she said of Courtney's selection. "It is certainly well deserved."
The professor described Courtney's long hours at the lab and some roadblocks she faced. Few scientists have attempted to work with the genetics of termites, so Courtney had no scientific road map to follow. "She wasn't working with something where I could tell her to do x, y and z," Pumo said.
A journey of roadblocks would better describe what Courtney faced during her study. She began her research in November 1999 and worked right up to her deadline in mid-September 2000. She worked on it at the Hofstra lab three to four hours every day after school and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily over the summer.
When Kurtz first suggested the project, Courtney thought "Sure. Why not? It didn't seem that hard."
Then she started.
"One of my biggest problems was extracting their DNA," she said. Because termites contain symbionts, tiny creatures that do much of the digestive work, it is difficult to separate their DNA from that of the termite. "This was extremely, extremely hard."
She tried several methods and wrote to numerous scientists and professors trying to find the best way.
Each time she thought she had found the right path for her research, she would hit another dead end. These were the same dead ends that other scientists were describing in their e-mails to her.
Perseverance paid off. However, by the time she figured out the techniques to do the testing the right way, her Intel application was almost due. She said she will continue her research even after the competition is over.
Each applicant had to finish a 20-page paper on their project and fill out an application, which Courtney described as a college application multiplied by 20.
"Now when I do my bio labs, I [think] piece of cake," Courtney said. Courtney's project was picked out of 1,500 entries nationwide. Both she and the school received a $1,000 check for her selection. Forty finalists will be chosen at the end of the month.
Courtney is the Class of 2001 salutatorian and has wanted to be a doctor since the day she received her first shot. "I thought it was the coolest thing."
To that end, Courtney will attend Cornell University in the fall and plans to study medicine.
And whatever she does during the summer, Courtney promises it will have nothing to do with termites.
