Amy Chyao
Junior
Plano East Senior High School
Plano, Texas

Since first grade, Amy has conducted a science fair project each year. From her own quirky theory that the atmosphere was gradually expanding, to her numerous experiments on bean seedlings, science always intrigued her. She eagerly selected Marie Curie for her first grade “most admired person” project. Years later, when Amy traveled to Warsaw, Poland to attend a physics research program, she visited Marie Curie’s home. Walking into the tiny room Marie Curie lived in, Amy felt the enormous impact she had made. Marie Curie dedicated her life to discoveries that contributed significantly to sciences of the world. Amy was determined to follow her example.

Amy's passion for science led her to a unique opportunity offered by the University of Texas at Dallas. She joined the 2009 Nano-Explorers summer program and stepped into the intricate world of nanotechnology. Her passion for science propelled her to work hard and to excel. In 2010, she was the winner of the first Gordon Moore Award at the Intel ISEF. She had the honor to attend President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address.

As an International Baccalaureate student and the top student of her class of 1,488, Amy values challenging courses her school offered as well as the opportunities to develop her leadership skills. In addition to being named a National AP Scholar in her sophomore year, Amy has served as an officer in many school clubs. She is a student Advisor on the Plano Youth Leadership board, a volunteer attorney for Teen Court, and the founder of a non-profit organization Spell Success. From savoring arroz con pollo with her friends in Spanish Club to playing cello in three different orchestras, Amy thrives while exploring all aspects of student life.

Amy continues to work hard to become a next generation scientist who contributes to the community in positive ways.

Kayla Dowell
Junior
Germann Hills Christian School
Manhattan, Kansas

In 2008, Kayla showed that near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) could measure the protein, fat and moisture content of eggs by scanning the egg through the shell.

Intrigued by the ability of NIRS to measure traits of biological materials, in 2009 she worked at the malaria research lab in Tanzania, Africa, where she applied the technique to evaluate a method to determine age and species of preserved mosquitoes that transmit malaria. The results have prompted international interest, including one peer-reviewed publication, a poster presented at an international meeting by a co-author, submission of a second paper for journal review, and additional studies currently underway by Tanzanian, Kenyan and Nigerian scientists.

In 2010, Kayla worked at a medical clinic at an orphanage in Zimbabwe where she became interested in the extract of a local plant, Artemisia annua, which is used to cure malaria. She showed that NIRS could be used to determine the artemisinin content in plant extracts, and this could be used to rapidly evaluate new cultivars of this important cure for a disease that kills over 1 million people each year. This technique could be used to help develop open-pollinated plants to replace current Artemisia hybrids which are more expensive.

Kayla won first place and Best Research Project, 2008 Kansas Junior Academy of Science, and received an all-expense paid trip to Chicago's American Academy of Sciences in 2009 for her "Does added protein in a hen's diet affect the number of eggs laid?" She won second place, Division 1 in the Kansas Science and Engineering Fair which included a trip to the International Science and Engineering Fair in 2009. She was a finalist in the Kansas BioGENEius Challenge (top 7 students from KS), and first place in 2011 Wamego Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

Kayla will be a senior in high school this Fall, and plans to go to Kansas State University after graduation. She is fascinated with the field of medicine, and plans on becoming a medical doctor and go overseas to do research and medical missions work

Christopher Duncan-Lewis
Senior
Winter Springs High School
Winter Springs, Florida

From a young age, Christopher has shown interest in the medicine and health sciences. Excelling in science courses, Christopher undertook a significant research project during his junior and senior high school years.

In his study, Christopher demonstrated the harmful effects of certain compounds (those possessing a divalent cation) on the sense of smell. One of the compounds he tested had been used in a popular homeopathic nasal spray. Christopher believes that the results of his research provide evidence against the use of such compounds in the nasal passage, and have the potential to increase our understanding of the sense of smell. His research report has been accepted for publication in Comparative Medicine, a medical journal.

Christopher spends much of his free time playing the piano. With over 13 years of training as a classical pianist, he frequently performs at churches and local events and has worked as an accompanist. Additionally, Christopher has served as a volunteer laboratory technician at the University of Central Florida.

He is a National Achievement Scholar, AP Scholar, and AXA Achievement Scholar. In addition to many other awards, Christopher won second prize in medicine and health at the 2011 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Christopher will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the Fall, majoring in biochemistry. He hopes to pursue a career in biomedical research.

Deborah Wasylik
Dr. Phillips High School
Orlando, Florida

Creating curiosity in science class is important to Deborah Wasylik. She accomplishes this when she tells her students that before she became a teacher she had climbed inside a pyramid, jumped out of an airplane and sold drugs!

She grew up with an adventurous family in New Jersey, and attended Grove City College near Pittsburgh. After graduation with a Biology Degree, she entered pharmaceutical sales and held various sales positions for the next 20 years, including demonstrating power tools live on QVC.

In 1996 the family moved to Orlando, Florida, and Deborah became a teacher at an inner-city school. The first phone call she received in class was from a probation officer asking if one of her students was wearing his ankle bracelet. During her first lab a student had an asthma attack triggered by earthworm preservative, and she had to call 911, but it was too late--she was in love with the job and the students.

For the last 10 years she has enjoyed teaching life sciences at Dr. Phillips High School. Deborah has been the recipient of many awards including being selected last year as a NASA Endeavor STEM Fellow and being invited by President Bush to the White House to receive the Presidential Award of Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Her plans for this summer include a trip to Montana to learn about the environmental impacts of the mining industry and hunt for fossils.

She is married to Wes, and their daughter Colleen recently graduated from Duke University.

Leslie Brinson
Instructor of Biology
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
Durham, North Carolina

As an experienced teacher looking back on her career, Leslie sees the importance of activities outside the classroom--whether field trips, after-school research projects or science competitions. What these activities have in common is that the students are engaged, physically and mentally in things they elect to do. Taking rural students to State competitions did more to inspire future scientists than any classroom experience she could provide. These days the highlight of the school year is when she leads students to Belize where they are immersed in research projects on the coral reef.

Leslie has been teaching at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) since 1995, and has come to believe there is no better educational environment. In this residential location, students are provided a competitive and nurturing pedagogical setting to conduct their own research and pursue a myriad of science competitions within North Carolina and beyond. Because she has found inspiration from her colleagues, Leslie has enthusiastically embraced a key mission of the school--providing outreach to biology teachers throughout the State.

Leslie's workshops include AP Biology, GLOBE, Biotechnology and SITE (a State developed curriculum for teachers in underperforming schools). She received the NCSSM Award for Exceptional Contribution to Outreach and the NABT Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for NC as a result of her support of her fellow teachers.

Leslie received a BS in Science Education from Florida State University as well as an M Ed in Science Education and MS in Botany from the University of Florida. She received a CAS in Science Education from East Carolina University.

Coit Hendley
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Greenbelt, Maryland

Mr. Hendley has been teaching for 32 years, and is currently teaching five sections of AP Chemistry and one section of Research Practicum. He has developed the AP Chemistry program into one that involves three teachers, eight sections and 240 students. The program has been recognized by the College Board since 2006 for having the most number of African-American students with a score of 3 or better.

His Research Practicum section is part of a program where seniors do an individual research project. He runs the Watershed Integrated Study Program in which teams of students measure the water quality of fourteen sites in the area and use the data to study local and general water quality.

Coit is National Board Certified and is an active grant writer. He has received several Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund Grants as well as a GTE GIFT Fellowship, a Toyota Tapestry Grant and NEA student Achievement Award. He is also a winner of other awards including the Leo Shubert Memorial Award--The Chemical Society of Washington, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, the RadioShack National Teacher Award, the Christa McAuliffe Award and the Siemens AP Teacher Award. However, he is most proud of school awards voted on by the students. He was recognized as the National Honor Society Teacher of the Year and twice the Science and Technology Teacher of the Year.

Coit received a BA in Chemistry from Cornell University and a MA in Science Education from the University of Maryland.

Melissa Knothe Tate, Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio

Dr. Melissa Knothe Tate is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of orthopaedic mechanobiology as well as the development and clinical translation of novel technologies and materials.

Dr. Knothe Tate joined the nascent field of orthopaedic mechanobiology two decades ago, as a student at Stanford University, where she earned dual BS degrees in Biological Sciences and Mechanical Engineering in 1988. Thereafter, she transferred her research and academic pursuits to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, where she earned a Dipl. Masch. Ing., 1994 in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. degree (Dr. sc. techn.ETH, 1998) in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. In 1998, she was awarded the Georg Fischer Prize for the most outstanding dissertation at the ETH Zurich.

For several years, Dr. Knothe Tate headed the Bone Mechanobiology Research Group at the AO Research Institute in Davos, as well as the Computational Mechanobiology Research Group at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in Zurich.

She spent the year 2000 as Visiting Professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedics. In January 2001, she joined the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, where she received several awards for innovation in the R&D sector.

In July 2004, she joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University, where she was the first Joint Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering. In addition to being recently elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2010), Dr. Knothe Tate has received prestigious awards from the Society for Mathematics and Biology and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.