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INDIANA MATHEMATICIAN WINS 57^TH WESTINGHOUSE SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH,  $40,000 SCHOLARSHIP ON 17^TH BIRTHDAY

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 8 – A young mathematician from Indiana, who started taking college math courses while in the eighth grade, has won the first-place $40,000 scholarship in the prestigious Westinghouse Science Talent Search, the 57-year-old national competition whose previous winners include five Nobel Laureates.

Christopher Colin Mihelich of Carmel, Ind., first in his class at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, received news of his selection by the competition’s panel of eight Ph.D./M.D. judges on his 17^th birthday. A junior in high school who will graduate this year, Chris also has perfect scores on the national SAT exams.

The second-place $30,000 scholarship was won by Ravi Vikram Shah, a 17-year-old from Tempe, Ariz., who studied drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy. Third place and a $20,000 scholarship were awarded to Parker Rouse Conrad from New York City, also 17, who entered a physiology project on nerve synapse receptors.

The results of this year’s Science Talent Search were announced here today at the National Academy of Sciences by Dr. J. Richard Gott, professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University and chairman of the judges. The competition is funded by the Westinghouse Foundation and conducted by Society for Science & the Public, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of science.

‘Teach Real Mathematics and Sciences Earlier’

The competition’s top winner, Chris Mihelich, motivated by questions in theoretical physics, studied certain properties of polynomials having applications to geometry and combinatorics.

Although he includes mathematical problem solving and computer programming among his hobbies, his interests are not limited to math. He plays both the flute and the piano and is in his school’s band, pep band and jazz ensemble. He has played on his school’s soccer team, composes music and also earned Indiana’s highest score in the National Spanish Exam.

Chris hopes to attend Harvard next year to begin work toward a doctorate in mathematics, and eventually would like to teach math at the university level and work as a number theorist.

He says he believes American students could begin catching up with students from other industrialized nations in science and math if U.S. schools would "teach real mathematics and sciences earlier."

New Directions for Cancer Therapy

Ravi Shah, the second-prize winner, focused his Westinghouse project on an investigation of changes in the expression of repair genes in DNA from tumors resistant to various concentrations of a drug. He believes his results suggest new directions for cancer chemotherapy. First in his class at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Ravi hopes to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry or biochemistry at MIT and continue his cancer research.

Third-place winner Parker Conrad of New York City has been studying nerve synapse receptors since his sophomore year in high school. His Westinghouse project focused on two types of receptors crucial to understanding the function of nerve cells. Parker has been on his school’s track and cross country teams, understudied a leading role in a Broadway musical—appearing several times—and credits his mother, Ellen Rouse Conrad, with teaching him to always ask "why?" He intends to study biological sciences at college.

Fourth- through sixth-places and $15,000 Westinghouse scholarships went to 15-year-old Sohini Ramachandran of Fair Oaks, Calif., Travis Jeremy Schedler, 17, of

Sohini Ramachandran, the youngest Westinghouse finalist this year, is first in her class at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento and hopes to attend Harvard to prepare for a career as a research professor or research scientist. Her project linked plant genetics and human migration by mathematically analyzing short DNA sequences. Sohini hopes eventually to use gene therapy to find cures for hereditary diseases.

Travis Schedler, the fifth-place winner, who lives in Carbondale and attends the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, plans to study mathematics and physics at Harvard. A pianist since first grade and a vocalist, Travis has performed in two jazz choirs and says music helps him focus on his mathematical inquiries. His Westinghouse project involved quantum group theory, a subject at the interface of mathematics and physics.

William Greenleaf, the sixth-place winner, is first in his class and senior class president at Mayo High School in Rochester and plans to study biology at Harvard. BJ’s project was in medicine—an investigation of more effective gene transfer methods.

Winners of the competition’s four $10,000 scholarships for seventh through tenth places were Ann Kromsky, 17, of Corona, Calif., Jonathan Adam Kelner, 17, of Old Westbury, N.Y., Patrick William Goodwill, Anttila-Hughes, 17, of New York City.

Ann Kromsky, in seventh-place, born in Baku in the former Soviet Union, was one of four finalists born outside the U.S. Ann, who investigated how children learn a language, sings in a Madrigal group at Corona High School and hopes to study neurology and medicine at UCLA.

In eighth-place, mathematical physicist Jonathan Kelner is tied for first in his class at the Wheatley School. He created Long Island Students Against Cancer, a fundraising organization that now includes more than 20 schools. Jonathan also scored 1600 on his SATs and plans to become a physics researcher after attending Harvard.

Patrick Goodwill, the ninth-place winner from Plano, attending the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, entered a project in physical chemistry. He is a classical pianist and hopes to attend MIT to study chemistry.

Tenth-place winner Jesse Anttila-Hughes of Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan entered a project focused on myasthenia gravis. Accomplished in martial arts and the winner of a 1997 Mitsui Scholarship to study in Japan, he plans to major in theoretical physics at MIT or Caltech.

Thirty other finalists, including first and second alternates James Gregory Marsden of West Hills, Calif., and Aaron M. Seider of Miami Beach, Fla., received $1,000 cash awards.

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