20 high school students to participate in USA Biology Olympiad National Finals at Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Twenty finalists from across the country have been selected by the Center for Excellence in Education to participate in the 10th annual USA Biology Olympiad National Finals, beginning next week at Purdue University.
The finalists are participating in the June 3-15 event based on their scores from the USABO open and semifinal exams. Nearly 10,500 students registered nationally for the annual event. The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) is partnering with Purdue for the third consecutive year to host the finals.
"Team USA members have earned gold medals at the last five International Biology Olympiad competitions, including 2011, where Team USA achieved the coveted No. 1 Team in the world and No. 1 Individual Position," said Joann DiGennaro, president of the Center for Excellence in Education. "The Center for Excellence in Education is proud to sponsor the USABO with Purdue University and to train these high school scholars in practical and theoretical biology."
The USABO national finalists will gather on the Purdue campus on Sunday (June 3) to begin competing for U.S. National medals. The top four medalists participate July 8-15 in the International Biology Olympiad in Singapore.
Korean Air, the official airline of the 2012 USABO, will provide tickets for Team USA and the coaches to attend the International Biology Olympiad, a competition involving student teams from 60 countries.
"Every U.S. team member has medaled in the international competition since 2003, bringing home 27 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals," said Clark Gedney, director of the Bio Media Center for Instructional Computing at Purdue and campus liaison for the USA Biology Olympiad. "Purdue is excited to play a continued role in helping groom these talented high school students to become scientific leaders of tomorrow."
During the two weeks at Purdue, the finalists will participate in intensive theoretical and practical tutorials. The high school students will study with leading U.S. biologists who are experts in cellular biology, microbiology, biotechnology, plant anatomy and physiology, animal anatomy and physiology, ethology, genetics and evolution, ecology and biosystematics. They also will tour research laboratories in Discovery Park and elsewhere on campus.
At the conclusion of the two weeks, the students take two exams, a practical and a theoretical. The four highest scorers are named to Team USA 2012 and will represent this nation at the IBO.
The 2012 USA Biology Olympiad national finalists are:
California: Daniel Bork, North Hollywood High School; Nikhil Buduma, Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose; Bryce Hwang, Foothill High School, Pleasanton; Jing Liu, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont; Rachel Paris, Santa Monica High School; Siddharth Trehan, Mira Loma High School, Sacramento; and Hamilton Trinh, Mission San Jose, Fremont.
Delaware: Lei Ding, The Charter School of Wilmington.
Hawaii: James Ha, Punahou, Honolulu.
Massachusetts: Sitara Chapman, Framingham High School.
New Jersey: Kevin Ma, East Brunswick High School; and Ray Wang, Holmdel High School.
North Carolina: Oliver Sun, Ardrey Kell High School, Charlotte; and Tejas Sundaresan, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham.
Texas: David Hao, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton; and Dominic Yurk, R.L. Paschal High School, Fort Worth.
Virginia: Owen Gray, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria; Andrew Jiang, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria; Min Cheol Kim, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria; and Yuqing Zhang, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria.
About the Center for Excellence in Education
The Center for Excellence in Education, which was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H.G. Rickover and DiGennaro, is working to nurture high school and university scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and to encourage collaboration between and among leaders in the global community. CEE sponsors the Research Science Institute, the USA Biology Olympiad and the Teacher Enrichment Program.
Media Contacts: Maureen Palmer, 703-448-9062 ext. 222, mpalmer@cee.org
Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Sources: Joann P. DiGennaro, 703-448-9062, joann@cee.org
Kathy Frame, director of the USA Biology Olympiad, 571-228-0098, kframe@cee.org
Clark Gedney, 765-494-0157, cgedney@purdue.edu
Related websites:
Purdue College of Science
Discovery Park
