Xiaomeng Zeng

IOWA

Xiaomeng Zeng, 18, of Iowa City, studied the long-standing debate of whether public library funding from either government or private sources might adversely affect funding from the other group, for her Intel Science Talent Search project in behavioral and social sciences. Using Iowa public library statistics and U.S. census datasets, Jessica constructed an econometric model that included public funding, private donations, population size, and local economic and demographic factors. Although her data was restricted to Iowa, comprising mainly of small towns, she reached the surprising conclusion that funds from private and public sources are relational - as one increases, so does the other - an effect called "crowding in." Jessica attends West High School where she's active in the Federal Reserve challenge, academic decathlon and chemistry club. The daughter of Yu Zeng and Hongbo Xie, she enjoys tennis, yoga and playing the violin, and hopes to study pro-social behavior after attending Harvard or Yale. Jessica immigrated to the US at age nine from the People's Republic of China, and hopes her research will benefit the public libraries that helped her learn the English language.