Eight Schreiber High School students have qualified as Intel Semifinalists. This is the 18th consecutive year that students from our community's high school have qualified for the prestigious nationwide student research award. The students' achievement ranks Schreiber High School as number one in Nassau County, and fourth in the U.S.

Proudly, Schreiber High School Principal Dr. Frank Banta announced last week that the following students have been honored for their unique and sophisticated investigations and report of findings in the area of science, social science and mathematics: Adrienne Barasch (science), Marla Diakow (science), Tiffany Koo (science), Maiko Kume (science) Joshua Bloom (social science), Chiara Condi (social science), Andrew Malone (social science) and Daniel Kenger (mathematics).

These wonderfully talented and dedicated young men and young women have been guided in their studies by Phyllis Serfaty (science), Dr. David O'Connor and Gary Silverstein (social science), and Dr. Fritz Cayermitte (mathematics). Each of these teachers has sections of sophomores, juniors and seniors who participate in the research program at Schreiber High School.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Geoffrey Gordon praised Dr. Banta, the teachers and students on behalf of the board of education and community. "The wonderful achievement of our students and staff exemplifies the excellence of Port schools. Two consecutive years of eight semifinalists, first in the county and fourth in the United States, is an incredible accomplishment. The entire community extends congratulations and wishes the semifinalists the best of luck as they await the selection of the Intel finalists." He concluded his comments with an enthusiastic, "Well done!"

Mrs. Serfaty and the other research program teachers spoke of the hard work that all the students in the program do. "However, it's nice to see so many get this kind of recognition."

Bracken, who is the assistant principal for this year's senior class, remarked that all of the research program students have been so focused since they entered Schreiber. "It's totally understandable that Intel recognizes their work," he noted.

Nationwide, 300 U.S. high school seniors received $1,000 scholarships for being named an Intel Science Talent Search semifinalist. In addition, each high school received another $1,000 for each semifinalist to be used toward their science and math education programs.

This year, 1,652 high school seniors entered what some call the Nobel Prize: of high school science competition. Students were judged on their individual reports for their research ability, scientific originality and creative thinking. The research projects cover all disciplines of science including chemical, physical, mathematics, engineering, social and biological.

On Jan. 28, 40 finalists will be chosen to go to Washington, D.C. the week of March 11-16. While there, they will compete for $1.2 million in scholarships and awards as well as have the opportunity to present their research to prominent scientists, teachers and media.

For those readers interested in the titles of the semifinalists' projects they are:

Adrienne Barasch- Structural Analysis of Alzheimer's A-beta(14-23) Using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer

Joshua Bloom- A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Retro-Fitting American Commercial Jetliners with Anti-Missile Countermeasures

Chiara Condi- Is Power the Product or the Cause of Violence Coalition Dynamics in Male-to-Female Intragroup Aggression Among the Chimpanzees of Kimbale

Marla Diakow- The Utilization of Rare SNPs Within the Canine Genome as a Means of Breed Identification

Daniel Kenger- First Prototype Mouse-Enabled Web Browser for the Blind

Tiffany Koo-Cloning and Molecular Characterization of Novel Breast Cancer Gene: ERIAP

Maiko Kume- Is PCR a Relevant Tool for the Analysis of Microbial Diversity?

Andrew Malone- Evaluating Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice Across Trade-Offs of Varying Value