Ten Stuyvesant seniors were named semi-finalists in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search (STS). The Society for Science and the Public, which runs the competition, released a list of 300 semi-finalists on Wednesday, January 14.

As stated on the Intel STS Web site, the competition “finds and encourages the nation’s most talented high school seniors, furthering their pursuit of research and careers in the science, math, engineering, and medicine disciplines.” This year, Intel STS had 1,608 applicants from 470 high schools.

Each semi-finalist receives a 1,000 dollar award, and an additional 1,000 dollars goes to their school. Forty of the semi-finalists will be named finalists on Wednesday, January 28 and those 40 finalists will go to Washington, D.C. to compete for a 100,000 dollar grand prize.

This year’s Stuyvesant semi-finalists are seniors Charles Choi, Aidan Daly, Francesca diDomenico, Daniel Jeng, Anissa Mak, Gayatri Malhotra, Adam Sealfon, Ksenia Timachova, Adriana Weiss and Qi Fan (Jenny) Zhang. Seventy-two Stuyvesant seniors entered the competition this year.

According to biology teacher Dr. Jonathan Gastel, who teaches the Biology Research course, the students who entered the competition took a research class, conducted individual research, and wrote a report and application which was submitted to the Intel STS. The application requires essays as well as scholastic and biographical information.

“The goal of the competition is to find students who have the potential to become great scientists, mathematicians and engineers,” Dr. Gastel said. “[There are] many other research contests looking for different things.”

The students worked with both mentors and teachers to put together their projects. “[Mathematics teachers Peter] Brooks and [Oana] Pascu gave me a lot of help with my project,” Mak said.

Stuyvesant’s performance this year is similar to that of previous years. “Last year we had 11 semi-finalists, this year we have 10, so it’s about the same. We’re fourth in the country in terms of the number of [Intel STS] semi-finalists,” Dr. Gastel said.

The semi-finalists and their teachers are thrilled by the news. “I was really surprised. If I’m a finalist, I’ll be excited,” Jeng said.

“I thought [my project] was an interesting idea, but I was still really surprised,” Weiss said.

“They’ve done a lot of work and they strive to be the best in the country,” Dr. Gastel said of the students. “Many of them seem to be on that track.”