OHS, McQuaid Featured in NY Times Piece on Intel Science Contest Finalists

Dan McQuaid from Ossining High School,  Chris Traver from Croton-Harmon High School and Jiayi Pena from Horace Greeley are among 40 finalists in the annual Intel Science Talent Search competition who've been in Washington, DC the past two days to undergo final judging, display their work to the public, meet with notable scientists, and compete for $630,000 in awards, including the top award of $100,000. 

The top winners will be announced at a black-tie gala awards ceremony at the National Building Museum on March 12.

In a March 11 article, the New York Times says since the contest's inception—it was initially sponsored by Westinghouse—18 of its top winners have gone one to earn Nobel Prizes or McArthur "genius" awards. 

Among the finalists the Times features is Ossining's McQuaid:

Perched on a hill in Westchester County, Ossining High School is a commanding building with a view of a sliver of the Hudson River to the west. Not that its students spend hours getting lost in the languorous scenery — they are too busy with homework and sports, with navigating social cliques and worrying about college.

Or if they are Dan McQuaid, with “Identification of Post-Translational Regulation Sites on the KLF6 Tumor Suppressor as Novel Targets for Cancer Therapies.”

Like Stuyvesant, Ossining has a dedicated research program, which students enter in the 10th grade. That program has produced 45 Intel semifinalists since 2001; its total of eight in 2010 was the highest of any school that year. None of them made it to the finals. “Dan’s a sort of Neil Armstrong,” said his adviser Mr. Piccirillo. “We’ve never been to the moon before.”

Here are the three Westchester County finalists:

McQuaid, Daniel (Ossining High School) 
Ossining, New York
Identification of Post-Translational Regulation Sites on the KLF6 Tumor Suppressor as Novel Targets for Cancer Therapies

Peng, Jiayi (Horace Greeley High School) 
Chappaqua, New York
A Cellular Automaton Model for Critical Dynamics in Neuronal Networks

Traver, Chris (Croton-Harmon High School) 
Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Investigating Noise Pollution Using Smartphones and Citizen Scientists