Indian American Student Shivani Sud Wins $100,000 Intel Scholarship

Shivani Sud

Honoring the next generation of American innovators, Intel Corporation announced the winners of the Intel Science Talent Search. Shivani Sud, 17, of Durham, N.C., won the top award, a $100,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation.

For her research project, Sud developed a model that analyzed the specific "molecular signatures" of tumors from patients with stage II colon cancer. She then used this information to identify those at higher risk for tumor recurrence and propose potentially effective drugs for treatment. Nine other students from across the United States also won top placement in the competition, and received cash prizes for their innovative projects.

Shivani Sud, 17, of Durham, submitted a bioinformatics and genomics project to the Intel Science Talent Search that focused on identifying stage II colon cancer patients at high risk for recurrence and the best therapeutic agents for treating their tumors. The standard method of characterizing tumors relies on visual information, including size, degree of metastasis and microscopic structure.

Shivani's 50-gene model for predicting the recurrence of colon cancer instead uses gene expression profiles to link multiple genetic events that characterize various tumor types. She created her model using two public data sets containing 125 patient samples and coupled it with clinical data to plot statistically significant survival curves. She then used her model to identify drugs that may be effective in treating stage II colon cancer.

The daughter of Ish and Anu Sud, Shivani is first in her class of 358 at Charles E. Jordan High School and represents the students at school board meetings. She is a Teen Court student attorney, a Durham Rescue Mission volunteer and performs classical and modern Indian dance. Shivani plans to attend Princeton or Harvard, earn a M.D./Ph.D. and have a career in research.

This year's Intel Science Talent Search finalists hailed from 19 states and represented 35 high schools throughout the United States. Of the more than 1,600 high school seniors who entered the 2008 Intel Science Talent Search, 300 were announced as semifinalists in January. Of those, 40 were chosen as finalists and invited to Washington, D.C., to compete for the top 10 awards.

"These forty students show what American youth can do when they are encouraged to study math and science," said Intel Chairman Craig Barrett. "In this presidential year, their stories should send a strong message that this critical foundation for innovation must be supported."

The Science Talent Search is America's oldest and most prestigious high school science competition. During the past 67 years, Science Talent Search alumni have received more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including six Nobel Laureates, three National Medal of Science winners, 10 MacArthur Foundation Fellows and two Fields Medals.

Society for Science & the Public (formerly Science Service), a nonprofit organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education, owns and has administered the Science Talent Search since its inception in 1942.

"The Intel Science Talent Search 2008 finalists personify what drives American ingenuity," said Elizabeth Marincola, president, Society for Science & the Public. "Society for Science & the Public is proud to join with Intel in congratulating Shivani Sud and all of this year's finalists. We are inspired by their dedication to science, and are encouraged by what the quality and depth of their work foretells for our continued innovation and economic prosperity."
Intel added sponsorship of the Science Talent Search to its extensive Education Initiative portfolio in 1998 to promote math and science education, a growing need in the United States. During the past 10 years, Intel has increased the total annual awards and scholarships from $207,000 to $1.25 million. The company has also reinvigorated the competition by adding awards for the schools and introducing technology to the experience, including providing laptop computers to all 40 finalists.

Intel has long been committed to promoting math and science education. In the past decade alone, Intel has invested $1 billion to improving education around the world. Today, Intel invests more than $100 million annually to promote education and technological literacy around the world.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. For more information please visit www.intel.com/pressroom and Ublogs.intel.com. To learn more about Intel's commitment to education around the world, visit www.intel.com/education. To learn more about Society for Science & the Public, visit www.societyforscience.org

- Special To Nri Today