Two HHH Students Are Intel Semifinalists

Two Half Hollow Hills students are semifinalists in the most competitive high school science contest in the nation, the Society for Science and the Public announced on Wednesday.

Hannah Schafer Kenagy, 17, of and Malini Desai, 17, of  are among 300 students chosen from a pool of 1,839 young minds competing in the The Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS).

Their semifinalist positions will earn them each $1,000. Both high schools will also receive that amount in recognition of outstanding teaching, and to support further excellence in science, math and/or engineering education.

Kenagy was selected for her project, Understanding the Pathogenesis of Acid-Resistant E. coli: Computational Modeling of pH-Dependent Conformational Changes in GadB and Desai was chosen for the project, Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation Methodologies Applied to Components of Pyrolysis Oil

Kenagy and Desai will now move on to the next round of competition, in which 40 finalists will be chosen to attend the Intel Science Talent Institute in Washington, DC and compete for the chance to win a grand prize of $100,000.

The 40 Intel STS 2012 finalists will be announced on January 25.