Wednesday, March 12, 2008
INTEL Award for Indian-American High School girl
An Indian-American High School girl has bagged a whopping $ 100,000 Intel scholarship for developing a model to identify early stage colon cancer patients with a high risk for recurrence, beating competition from 1,600 others.
Shivani Sud, 17, of North Carolina won the Intel Foundation's top award aimed at honouring the next generation of scientists and innovators in the US.
For her research project, Sud developed a model that analysed the specific ''molecular signatures'' of tumors from patients with stage II colon cancer.
She then used this information to identify those at higher risk for tumor recurrence and propose potentially effective drugs for treatment, Intel said in a media release.
''That proud feeling comes from doing what I do and not just the acknowledgment of it,'' Sud, who attends Jordan High School, was quoted as saying by The News and Observer of Durham.
Sud said her interest in cancer research started very early on as a result of a relative developing cancer.
''I saw how hard that was for my family, I saw how that kind of changed my outlook on life, because when you're six years old, you don't think about topics such as death or dying from this type of cancer -- having your life change drastically,'' she said.
This year's Intel Science Talent Search finalists came from 19 states and represented 35 high schools throughout the United States.
Hockey Federation chief KPS Gill Refuses to RESIGN :
Despite India's disgraceful exit from the Olympics qualifier, hockey federation chief KPS Gill has said he had no intention of resigning from the post.
The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president denied giving any 'instant coffee' remark. "I never made this statement."
Gill said that the focus of the IHF was on juniors and not seniors. He emphasised that the federation has done well in that regard.
Defending himself over the Olympics qualifier issue, Gill pointed to the fact that India had won 10 major hockey tournaments during his 14-year tenure.
"When I took over we were nowhere in hockey. From 1998 till now, we have won approximately 10 major titles," he said.
"You have to see the effort, it is not only the federation. When you call it a National Game it has to be a national effort. It becomes a national sport through symbiosis through the government, IHF and Sports Authority of India. Now for four years, the training centres for hockey were non-existent," said Gill.
Another justification that Gill gave on the recent hockey debacle was that India's performance at world cup has always been bad.
