Kiran Pendri and Jonathan Sellon

Senator Lieberman honored two Connecticut high school seniors, Jonathan Sellon from Westport, and Kiran Pendri from South Glastonbury for being among the ranks of the nation's 40 top high school researchers in the areas of mathematics, science, engineering and medicine.

The 2006 Intel Science Talent Search recognizes premier research by outstanding high school seniors from around the country. It was created in 1942 by Science Service as a means for encouraging talented high school students to pursue a career in science, mathematics, engineering, and medicine. Science Service is a non-profit organization that actively encourages student, their parents, and teachers to explore science. The Science Talent Search has recognized over 2500 finalists with more than $5 million in scholarships.

Jonathan Sellon and Kiran Pendri are two of the 40 finalists chosen from over 1500 entries in the Intel Science Talent Search. Top 10 prizes will be awarded, and other finalists will receive a $5,000 scholarship award along with an Intel Centrino mobile notebook computer.

In addition to displaying their science research projects while in Washington, the students met with leading scientists and visited places of historic and political importance.

Kiran Reddy Pendi, 17, of South Glastonbury, synthesized a new type of organic compound, a novel macrocyclic alkene dithiolactone for his project in chemistry. Building on recent Nobel Prize-winning research in chemistry, Kiran's efforts utilize macrocyclization, which is a Ring-Closing Olefin Metathesis reaction that allows for the creation of a mid-sized molecular ring that serves as a precursor for the synthesis of large-ring alkenes. He believes his research could contribute to manufacturing chemicals and pharmaceuticals in an efficient and environmentally friendly way. He also believes they can be used towards cures for cancer. Kiran hopes to study chemistry at Harvard or Princeton to prepare for a career in scientific research in industry or academia.

Jonathan Blake Sellon, 18, of Westport, researched a new way of examining human audio processing which can be applied to current speech recognition technology and cochlear implants for his project in medicine and health. Jon focused on the theory that inner ear hair cells (IHCs) located on the ear's basilar membrane help control which signals or sound frequencies the brain focuses on, allowing the listener to distinguish one sound among many. Although many computer algorithms struggle to effectively eliminate background noise or differentiate between two sources of input, this is easily managed by the human brain. By creating a computer model simulating the response of IHCs to stimuli and integrating the model into current auditory nerve stimulation software, Jon believes he increased the accuracy of the separation algorithm. Jon plans to study computer science at Princeton or Columbia, focusing on neuroscience applications.