JETS TEAMS Students Named as Top Finalists in Intel Science Talent Search

"I've been interested in math and science since I was young," Vinay explains, "the problem-solving aspect of these subjects interests me." So the opportunity to explore, in-depth, a topic of interest and provide solutions or improvements to a current process was extremely appealing. Shravani agreed and said the whole competition was "one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. I got the opportunity to meet so many people, including remarkable scientists and the other 39 finalists, all of whom share my passion for science. I learned so much from each of them and I have made some lasting friendships."

Shravani Mikkilineni, 17, of Bloomfield Hills Michigan, studied the computation of continued fraction expansions of the square roots of positive integers in her mathematics project, Continued Fractions and Orbits of a Linear Fractional Transformation. Continued fractions provide approximations to the square roots of non-square integers, but are not easily computed. Let d be the largest integer less than the square root of k. Shravani found an accessible computation in the case where 2d / (k - d²) is a half integer. Shravani is captain of the varsity tennis team, senior editor of the yearbook and played violin in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia. Her work in biology and math has earned numerous national awards, and she organized a fundraiser for a nonprofit charitable organization which benefits children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Ghana, collecting both electronics and school supplies.

Vinay Venkatesh Ramasesh, 18, of Fort Worth Texas submitted a chemistry project entitled Impact of Orbital Localization on One-Electron Basis Set Convergence involving recently developed algorithms — known as local methods — to accurately determine molecular thermodynamic properties of large molecules, such as proteins. Using the Molpro suite of computational chemistry programs, he ran thousands of calculations at reduced computational cost (computer time, memory and disk space) and identified aspects of the localization methods that required further effort. He is first author of a paper on his work submitted to Theoretical Chemistry Accounts. Vinay's earlier projects include exploring the links between math and music — specifically, parallels between music and fractals (complex mathematical constructs) — and building several robots, one designed to pick up laundry!

Every year, some 1,600 American high school seniors enter the Intel Science Talent Search with original projects from a wide range of mathematics and science disciplines. The field of 1,600 is narrowed to 300 semifinalists, and then to 40 finalists. Each finalist receives:

• $5,000 from the Intel Foundation
• a new laptop with Intel^® Centrino^® Duo Mobile Technology
• an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
• an opportunity to meet with government officials, including the President or Vice President
• a chance to interact with leading scientists and display their research at the National Academy of Sciences.

Of the nearly 35 high schools represented within the top 40 finalists, eight of the schools currently participate in TEAMS, JETS flagship competition providing students a chance to experience first-hand the applications of math and science to engineering.