UT Dallas-sponsored high school students rake in $40,000 Siemens scholarship

by PegNews wire

Camden Miller and John Chen - students at Allen High School and Plano East Senior High School, respectively - carried out a summer lab project under the sponsoring eyes of UT Dallas chemistry professor Kenneth Balkus and grad student Harvey Liu. Their project was all about refining the process of preserving organs and limbs awaiting transplant or reattachment surgery, and judging by its title (“Controlled Release of Nitric Oxide from Electrospun Biodegradable Fibers") it involved both nitric oxide and electrospun biodegradable fibers: two of my personal favorite food additives.

More importantly for Camden and John, their study won the Texas division of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology and was thus entered in the national finals (Nov. 30 - Dec. 3 at New York University), where it garnered them third place - netting them $40,000 in scholarship funds, which the two student researchers will share equally.

Camden made the UTD connection through the NanoExplorer program, while John came on board via a summer scholar program administered by UTD, Plano ISD and the High Technology Education Coalition of Collin County.

posted by JM