Palo Alto High School senior Jonathan Steinman received a $1,000 check during 7th period on Jan. 11 for becoming a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search.

“[Campanile journalism adviser Esther Wojcicki] told everyone they needed to come in [to the classroom during 7th period],” said junior Sam Weiss, one of Steinman’s fellow Campanile staff members. “She must have known ahead of time. You could see a bunch of people outside. Then the people from Intel came in with a camera guy [from Channel 5 News]. They gave him a big check and a bunch of balloons… We were all clapping for him.”

“This is pretty unbelievable,” Steinman said. "I was blown away by the check, but the award and being a semifinalist is what was really exciting."

The Intel Science Talent Search is a 65-year-old competition and is “America’s oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition, often considered the ‘junior Nobel Prize’” according to the Intel press release.

According to the press release, every year around 1,600 high school students from around the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands enter the competition. According to Tami Casey who works for the education programs department for Intel’s corporate communication group, this year 1,558 high school students entered the competition.

There are 300 semifinalists in all, nine of whom are Bay Area students, including Mahncy Mehrotra from Gunn High School.

“There is a lot of process involved [in the competition],” Casey said.

According to Casey, about 50 scientists scored the applications, and on Jan. 24, they will review the 300 semifinalists again and choose 40 students as finalists. All 40 finalists will receive a cash prize along with an Intel® Centrino™ notebook computer, and they will also travel to Washington D.C. to compete for a first place scholarship prize of $100,000.

“We have recruiters that come to the DC fair,” Casey said. “We also send out a list [of the finalists] to all four-year accredited US universities… it helps the finalists stand out among all the other smart students.”

According to Steinman, a lot of hardwork, time and effort contributed to becoming a semifinalist in the competition, in other words, “hours and hours of work moving tiny bits of DNA."

Steinman, who worked on his project at Stanford University under the supervision of Sumita Pennathur, a PhD in mechanical engineering, became “deeply immersed in the research.”

The project, titled “Electrophoresis in Nanochannels: A Novel Method for Rapid, High Resolution Separation of DNA” focused on a way to decrease the labor and money spent on separating DNA.

“Current technologies for separating and studying nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA are slow, labor-intensive and costly, placing a damper on progress in many fields of biological study,” Steinman said in his application.

“Using the unique physics provided by the molecular-level dimensions of nanochannels, we [those working on the project] demonstrate a new method for separation of DNA… Our research offers the potential to refine, miniaturize and automate the process of studying nucleic acids, which will in turn, speed the course of research across a broad range of biological science,” he wrote.

So for now, Steiman awaits the announcement of the finalists of the competition and leaves the future open to becoming either a biochemistry researcher or professor, or a journalist.

When asked about how he hopes to contribute to science or knowledge in general, Steinman wrote, “I hope that my research leads to a deeper understanding of the logic underlying all particles and interactions… Research that breaks the mold of established fields of science could yield effective medicines, more useful materials and products and more thoroughly reasoned understanding of human action and relationships.”

"The reason I got into this is science. Science is really interesting," Steinman said. "The project has the potential to be really important for medical science in the future."