Pittsburgh, Penn. — Maine high school students who won the first three places in the 2015 Maine State Science Fair (MSSF), which The Jackson Laboratory presented in March in collaboration with the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, racked up some impressive awards at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair this week.
Demetri Maxim of Gould Academy, winner of the 2015 and 2014 MSSF, won a first place and best in category in Cellular and Molecular Biology. The first award provides a $3,000 cash prize, and the best in category award a $5,000 scholarship to Maxim, a $1,000 grant to Gould and a $1,000 grant to the MSSF.
Maxim also received the first award ($1,500) from the American Physiological Society, and an experiential prize, the INTEL Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Visit to India Award.
Justin Hamilton and Ben Schade of Maine School of Science and Mathematics (second-place winners in the MSSF) won a Distinguished Achievement Award (top in category) of $3,000 from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
Paige Brown of Bangor High School, who won third place in this year’s MSSF, was awarded a full tuition scholarship to Drexel University. Brown also won a fourth place award, which confers a $500 cash award, in her category of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
“This is the best showing to date of Maine students at this prestigious international event,” says Michael McKernan, Jackson Laboratory program director for STEM and undergraduate education, who traveled to Pittsburgh with the students and their mentors. “It demonstrates how our Maine students can compete at the highest level when their schools encourage excellence in science, technology, engineering and math.”
Since 2012, winners of the Maine State Science Fair have been eligible to qualify for the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair , the world’s largest science fair, with the top three winners and their mentors traveling to the event.
The Jackson Laboratory offers educational programs for scientists throughout their careers—from high school students and teachers to experienced researchers defining the cutting edge of genomics research and physicians interested in incorporating genetics and genomics into their practices.
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center based in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a facility in Sacramento, Calif., and a new genomic medicine institute in Farmington, Conn. It employs 1,700 staff, and its mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health.
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