SFHS Student Semifinalist in Prestigious Intel Competition

A Mountain View student joins 28 other Bay Area high school seniors as a semifinalist in the 2012 Intel Science Talent Search, Intel officials announced Wednesday.

senior Shubha Raghvendra, who receives a $1,000 award from the Intel Foundation with an additional $1,000 going to SFHS, will now compete alongside with 300 students chosen from 173 schools for the top prize of $100,000.

looks at the effects that diabetes has on a certain type of stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells. She found that diabetes does compromise properties of these stem cells, for example, their ability to reproduce.

"The Intel STS encourages student to tackle challenging scientific questions and develop the skills to solve the problems of tomorrow," Intel spokesman Mark Pettinger said in a statement. "Projects submitted for consideration cover all disciplines of science including biochemistry, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, behavioral science, and medicine and health."

Fourteen schools will represent the Bay Area schools with other students from San Jose, Cupertino, Fremont, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, Saratoga and San Ramon,
         
Forty of the 300 semifinalists will be named finalists on Jan. 25. In March, the finalists will travel to Washington, D.C., where the contestants will compete for more than $1,250,000 in awards. In 2011, another Mountain View resident and senior at The Harker School made it to the finals.

Winners will be announced March 13.

The Science Talent Search started in 1942 and former finalists of the contest have gone on to be named Nobel Laureates and win the National Medal of Science and the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.