Roslyn Student Named Intel Finalist On January 30, Roslyn High School senior Evan Babazadeh was named one of the 40 national finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search. The award carries a minimum $5000 scholarship and a laptop computer. Evan will go to Washington, DC in early March to compete for up to $100,000 in scholarships. Asked how he felt when he got the phone call informing him that he was a finalist, Evan said, "I thought it was a prank!"

In Evan's project entitled, "Vascular Cells Support Maintenance and Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells into Functional Scabs+ Hematopoietic Cells," he was basically able to turn stem cells into blood cells. Stem cells have the capability to become any type of cell in the body and Evan's work has implications for treating a host of regenerative diseases.

Evan did his research at Weill Cornell Medical College where he was mentored by Dr. Shahin Rafii. He began work on this project over the summer and continued all fall. Evan's research advisor at Roslyn High School is Ms. Irena Tsarevsky. Evan has been enrolled in Roslyn's research program since he was in ninth grade, and this was the third summer he devoted to working in a lab. Next year, Evan will attend the NYU Stern School of Business.

Roslyn last had a finalist in the Science Talent search in 2001, and the school had two finalists in 1999; two of these three students went on to be named among the top ten winners. This year, three other Roslyn students (Jenna Kahn, Benjamin Wasserman, and Jonathan White) were also named semifinalists in the competition.