A Durham high school student late Tuesday night won the Intel Science Talent Search, a competition often termed the "junior Nobel Prize."

Shivani Sud, 17, was awarded a $100,000 college scholarship during a ceremony in Washington for her research to improve colon cancer treatment.

Sud, who attends Jordan High School, said Tuesday night she was thankful and proud. "That proud feeling comes from doing what I do and not just the acknowledgement of it," she said.

Her father, Ish, and her teary-eyed mother, Anu, joined their daughter on stage for pictures right after the announcement at a black-tie banquet for the contest's 40 finalists.

Sud has seen cancer take its toll in hospitals, in laboratories and even in her own home. She has been on a quest to change the fate of cancer patients through genetic research since she was only 6 years old and an immediate family member was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Her most recent work focuses on early-stage colon cancer, an illness in which as many as 30 percent of patients relapse after treatment, Sud said.

The focus of her research was to identify a predictor that would determine which patients are likely to suffer relapses. The knowledge could prevent patients who are unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy from going through the expensive and painful treatment, Sud said. Looking at genetic predictors may also help doctors choose the best medications for cancer patients.

Sud said she truly began her research as a kindergartner, inspired to find a fix for her loved one's suffering. Her family has decided to keep the details of the illness private.

"I saw how hard that was for my family," Sud said in an interview this week. "I saw how that kind of changed my outlook on life, because when you're 6 years old, you don't think about topics such as death or dying from this type of cancer -- having your life change drastically."

As a child, she would lug heavy books to her mother, a former cytogeneticist, and ask her to explain the science. In middle school, Sud began working in laboratories through programs at Temple University, Duke University and the National Institutes of Health.

"It's in her heart to work on cancer," Anu Sud has said of her daughter. "She really wants to find a cure for it."

At Jordan, the teen is known for a persistent curiosity and hard work. She starts her day at the high school, ends by taking classes at UNC-Chapel Hill and spends her afternoons in a lab at Duke.

David Green, Sud's former physics teacher at Jordan, said she is not really a bookworm. "She really takes everything she does seriously, and at the same time, she is still fun to be around," he said.

Hard work; good heart

Jordan English teacher Ginger Burk said Sud, who has not declared where she'll attend college, has an impeccable work ethic and a giving heart.

"I know whatever she does, it will be to help other people," Burk said. "Whatever she does, it's going to benefit all of us."

Sud was the top winner among more than 1,600 high-schoolers who applied last fall for a spot in the competition.

She and 39 other finalists have spent the past few days in Washington, meeting politicians, including President Bush, and presenting their research to judges.

The teenager also will be given a new Intel laptop as well as the scholarship, one of several monetary awards she has earned.

In addition to her interest in science, Sud volunteers at the Durham Rescue Mission, studies Indian classical dance and participates in Jordan's Model United Nations and the U.S. Senate Youth Program, in which teens debate actual legislation and submit recommendations to the federal government.

This is the second year a Durham student has been a top finisher in the Intel competition. Last year, Durham Academy student John Pardon was named runner-up and won a $75,000 scholarship that he took to Princeton University.

During the past 67 years, participants in the contest, formerly known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, have won more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors.