Enloe students win science prize

Three high school students from Raleigh took home the team prize in the regional final of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology on Saturday.

The students presented their research to a panel of judges from Georgia Institute of Technology, host of the Region 6 Finals. The group will next compete nationally in New York for scholarships from $10,000 to $100,000.

The Enloe High School students were:

* Vivek Bhattacharya, a senior;

* Hao Lian, a senior; and

* Daniel Vitek, a junior.

They will share a $6,000 scholarship for their victory.

The trio developed a model to predict the efficiencies of particular gene sequences of E. coli that yield useful proteins.

The research could provide a cost-effective method of commercially producing such proteins.

"The students came up with a novel idea of translating genetic information into an applied model, presenting a fresh, new way of research that you don't usually find in mentor-led projects," said King Jordan, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Biology.

"The team's competency was impressive. The model is more sophisticated than others, and the project has real practical applications in fields such as synthetic biology."

Some North Carolina students were runners-up in the contest as well. Each received a $1,000 scholarship, and the Siemens Foundation awards $2,000 per project to the high school of every regional finalist.

Runners-up from the state in the individual category were:

* Jacobi Carter, Carter Christian School, Rolesville, and

* Shivani Sud, Jordan High School, Durham.

Team runners-up were Shuo Li and Mingjuan Zhang of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham.