High School Students Win $100,000 Scholarships

Call it the 'Super Bowl of Science.' The players at this match-up are among the brightest young minds in the United States. They are the winners of the nation's premiere math, science and technology competition for high school students. And for the first time in the nine year-history of the Siemens Competition, girls swept the top prizes in both categories.

Isha Jain, a senior at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, won the $100,000 scholarship in the individual category for her research on bone growth. Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, seniors at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, New York, won the $100,000 prize (which they will share) in the team category for their research on tuberculosis. All finalists walked away with scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 after having beaten out more than 1,600 contestants. There were six individuals and six team finalists.

This year's projects include a webcam monitoring system to ensure the safe cooking of hamburgers that could help prevent E. Coli breakouts in the fast food industry; the discovery of a gene that could make tumors resistant to a common breast cancer drug; discoveries about the oceans with important implications for the global climate; and research that could lead to more effective treatment of brain tumors, the next generation of anti-tuberculosis drugs, new ways to treat Herpes Simplex Virus and even help people avoid jet lag and insomnia.

Produced for Siemens