62nd Annual STS (2002-2003)
Finalists
Joel Brewster Lewis

NEW YORK
Joel Brewster Lewis, 18, of Brooklyn, analyzed a vector game of his own invention for his Intel Science Talent Search project in mathematics. Based on a previously studied but unsolved game called Half-Liar, Joel created his own version of two-dimensional vector manipulations. After analyzing his two-person game of integer-valued vectors, he found all starting positions which allow the second player to win in a prescribed number of moves. Such games are useful in handling false positives in medical tests and corrupt signals in communications. The son of David Lewis and Ellen Winner, he earned perfect scores on his SATs. As math team captain at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Joel spends every morning teaching fellow students. Last summer he volunteered as a teaching assistant at CCNY and eventually would like to join academia as a mathematics professor and researcher. Winner of numerous math honors, Joel hopes to contribute to the field by advancing mathematical research and by continuing to teach interested students. His hobbies include hiking, juggling, writing stories and debating political issues.