Two seniors at Thomas Jefferson were among 40 high school seniors named Finalists for the IntelScience Talent Search 2009, a program of the Society for Science and the Public. The competition is America's oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition. Finalists will travel to Washington, D.C. in March to compete for $530,000 in scholarships, with the top winner receiving a $100,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation. Each Finalist will receive at least $5,000 in scholarships and a new laptop.
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Alexander "Alex" Kim, 17, of Fairfax Ridge was selected for his project, "Morphological and Molecular Phylogeography of a Giant American River Prawn, Macrobrachium carcinus." He is the son of Duckju Kim, an artist, and John Kim, a computer networking engineer.
For his project, Alex looked at the variations of the body form and DNA of the largest freshwater shrimp in the Western hemisphere — the Giant American River Prawn. He said he was inspired by the book, "The Crayfish," by Thomas Huxley, which he read at age 13. He's also been involved in independent science research since his freshman year. He worked with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and had a student travel grant to visit Puerto Rico and San Marcos, Texas, to collect specimens and take measurements of the shrimp. And yes, he says he likes eating shrimp, too.
Chestnut, too many garnishes to list
11 years ago
