Indian student shines at global high school science fair

Bengaluru boy Raghavendra Ramachanderan's model for conserving energy has bagged the 'Best Category' award in chemistry at the world's largest high school science research competition.

Ramachanderan won the top honour at the Intel ISEF held here last week for a model that conserves energy through the use of visible light De oxygenation -- a process of removal of oxygen atom from alcoholic substrates.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), a programme of Society for Science & the Public (SSP), is sponsored by software company Intel.

The contest saw 1,549 young scientists selected from across the globe through 446 affiliate fairs in 68 countries, regions and territories.

ISEF honours 17 'Best of Category' winners, who receive a prize money of USD 5,000 each. The Intel Foundation also awarded a USD 1,000 grant to each winner's school and to the affiliated fair they represent.

Another Indian student Gargi Pare from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh won the second prize of USD 1,000 in the Special Awards category for her solution on waste water treatment with the use of Nano Zero Valent Iron.

The top award at the contest was bagged by Jack Andraka from Maryland in the US.

Andraka won the coveted Gordon E Moore Award, which carries a USD 75,000 grand prize from the Intel Foundation, for his new method to detect pancreatic cancer.

Two students, Nicholas Schiefer from Ontario, Canada, and Ari Dyckovsky from Virginia in the US received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of USD 50,000 each.

Schiefer received the award for his research that aims to improve Internet search engines' capabilities, which will in turn improve access to information.

While, Dyckovsky was awarded the young scientist award for his investigations into the science of quantum teleportation in physics.

SSP, a nonprofit membership organisation dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education, owns and has administered the International Science and Engineering Fair since its inception in 1950.

ISEF Fair includes some of the most promising rising student entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists from around the world. The finalists are selected annually from hundreds of affiliated fairs.

Their projects are evaluated onsite by more than 1,200 judges from nearly every scientific discipline, each with a doctorate or the equivalent of 6 years of related professional experience in one of the scientific disciplines