February 8, 2002 UNT Inhouse publication: Two TAMS students named semifinalists in national Intel contest

homepage

Two TAMS students named semifinalists in national Intel contest

Two Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science students have been selected as semifinalists in the 2002 Intel Science Talent Search. Stephen Chen and Vivian Liang, both second-year TAMS students, are among 10 Texas students named as semifinalists in this year's competition.

The Intel Science Talent Search is the nation's premier program to recognize high school student research in science, mathematics and engineering. Past honorees of the 61-year-old program later became recipients of Nobel Prizes, National Medals of Science, MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and other prestigious science and math awards.

molecules Nationwide, 300 Intel semifinalists were selected from more than 1,500 applicants. All Intel semifinalists receive $1,000, and $1,000 is given to each semifinalist's school.

Chen attended R.L. Turner High School before entering TAMS in August 2000. He worked in the laboratory of Paul Braterman, Regents Professor of chemistry. For his project, he analyzed the structure of layered double hydroxides, minerals that are currently used as fillers in plastics but could be used for other applications. With a better understanding of the structure, scientists can calculate how layered double hydroxides can be used to absorb radioactive contaminants in water and soil, Chen says.

Chen analyzed some of the structure at the Los Alamos Neutron Beam Facility in New Mexico.

He plans to finish his bachelor's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Johns Hopkins University after graduating from TAMS in May. Chen plans to major in biochemistry.

Liang attended Jasper High School before entering TAMS in August 2000. For her project, she worked in the laboratory of Oliver Chyan, associate professor of chemistry. She deposited platinum and palladium onto carbon films that protect silicon wafers and tested the difference in the electronic transfers of the wafers with the metals and without the metals. The metals cause the electrochemical process to speed up and so could be used for more efficient batteries, capacitors and electrochemical sensors, she says.

Liang plans to finish her bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Austin after graduating from TAMS in May. She plans to major in electrical engineering.