Spackenkill student among top winners in Siemens Competition
Nina SchutzmanA Spackenkill High School junior was among the top winners in a national research competition.
Rachel Li of Poughkeepsie, and her team — Jainil Sutaria of Westchester County and Chelsea Wang of Colorado — were selected as national finalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.
The trio won the team division runner-up prize of $50,000 in scholarship funds, which they will split, according to Siemens.
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The annual Siemens Competition, established by the Siemens Foundation and administered by Discovery Education, seeks to recognize and build a strong pipeline for the nation's most promising young scientists, engineers and mathematicians.
It's among the variety of programs offered by the Foundation, which aims to support workforce development and engage students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). High school students, working alone or in small teams, submit original research projects in math, science and technology.
Li, Sutaria and Wang "developed a novel gel compound that acts as a barrier, preventing gum tissue from invading the bone tissue affected by gum disease, allowing guided regeneration of the bone surrounding the tooth root," Siemens said in a news release.
Their research "presents a promising new method for guided bone regeneration, a procedure in which surgically placed barrier materials prevent cells from the inflamed gum to enter the area of the damaged bone, allowing bone regeneration by osteoblast (bone cells) repopulation," according to the organization.
Li was inspired to research the issue because her uncle suffered tooth loss from dental disease.
The competition began with more than 2,000 students and 1,800 research project submissions.
Top winners were announced Tuesday at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Five teams competed in the last round. The first place team won $100,000 in scholarship funds. Three other teams won $25,000.
Nina Schutzman: nschutzman@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-451-4518, Twitter: @pojonschutzman