[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 158 (Monday, December 12, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2503-E2504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RECOGNITION OF MS. ANNE LEE AND MR. ALBERT SHIEH FROM ARIZONA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. RICK RENZI

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 12, 2005

  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize two of my home 
State of Arizona's brightest young students, Ms. Anne Lee and Mr. 
Albert Shieh for their recent achievements at the Nation's premier 
math, science and technology competition. On Monday, December 5, Ms. 
Lee and Mr. Shieh were awarded the top prize in the Siemens 
Westinghouse Competition, where they won the $100,000 first prize in 
the team category, which they will share equally, for developing new 
software that more accurately analyzes genetic data that will help give 
scientists more insight into such inherited diseases as Alzheimer's 
disease, autism and bipolar disorder. These two students developed this 
new software while interning at a premiere biomedical research facility 
in Arizona, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, which is 
helping young students like Anne and Albert to learn first-hand 
cutting-edge science and technology.
  In addition to the award, the two promising young students were 
invited to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on 
December 5th. Anne and Albert were also featured in a front-page news 
story in the Arizona Republic.
  All of Arizona joins me in congratulating both Anne and Albert for 
their remarkable accomplishment. Their success affirms that Arizona 
will be a leader in training the young scientists who will lead our 
knowledge-based economy of tomorrow.
  Mr. Speaker, I request that the article from the Arizona Republic be 
included in the Record following my remarks.

                      [From the Arizona Republic]

            TGen Work Wins Valley Students Scholarship Cash

       The partnership between TGen and Arizona to make the state 
     a leader in biomedical research paid off Monday. Two Valley 
     students were the first ever from Arizona to win a national 
     Siemens Westinghouse Competition. They shared the mathematics 
     and science team research award in New York and will split 
     the $100,000 scholarship prize.
       Anne Lee, 17, a senior at Phoenix Country Day School, and 
     Albert Shieh, 16, a junior at Scottsdale's Chaparral High 
     School, are interns at TGen, formally known as Translational 
     Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. TGen opened in 2002 
     as a nonprofit organization with for-profit enterprises and 
     conducts genetic research to try to cure diseases.
       The win exemplifies one of the institute's goals of 
     educating Arizona youths in the biosciences and the hope that 
     the students will ultimately return with their knowledge to 
     the Arizona scientific community.
       The students improved a TGen computer program that analyzes 
     genetic data to find more information about inherited 
     diseases

[[Page E2504]]

     such as Alzheimer's, autism and bipolar disorder. ``I was 
     pretty ecstatic,'' Shieh said. ``I was in shock because I 
     didn't expect to win.''
       Lee was equally surprised. ``They gave us this big check. 
     It was amazing, because all the other projects were really 
     good,'' Lee said. The TGen internship program is in its 
     second official year.
       ``Our goal is to make Arizona the best in K-12 bioscience 
     education nationwide,'' said Dietrich Stephan, director of 
     the neurogenomics division at TGen, ``There's a long way to 
     go but this proves we can do it here.''
       During the summer, Lee and Shieh were a part of the 
     institute's 60 unpaid interns from high school and college. 
     About 10 students continue to work a couple of days a week 
     after school during the school year. It's real life exposure 
     to what it means to be a biomedical researcher, Stephan said.
       ``The students work side by side with a Ph.D.-level mentor. 
     They're working on real research problems that we have 
     ongoing.'' TGen is providing Arizona students a venue of 
     excellence that will put them at the top of the field, 
     Stephan said. ``They're getting a graduate level education in 
     high school,'' he said.
       Lee's research identified the causes for the neurological 
     disease called Salla disease. This was Lee's second summer as 
     an intern and ``she blew the doors off of this,'' Stephan 
     said. ``She figured out the one gene that was broken that 
     causes the disease.''
       Her work was published in the American Journal of Medical 
     Genetics. ``Albert did a similarly impressive job,'' Stephan 
     said. Shieh was the first author on a paper published in the 
     BMC Genomics journal. He worked on scanning the 3 billion-
     letter genetic code to find disease-causing mutations.
       On Monday, the Arizona teens, along with the top individual 
     winner, Michael Viscardi, 16, of San Diego, got to ring the 
     closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

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