[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15011-15012]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    2011 DAVIDSON INSTITUTE FELLOWS

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today, I have the great honor and 
pleasure to recognize this year's Fellows for the Davidson Institute 
for Talent Development. This year, 18 young people under the age of 18 
have been awarded scholarships of $50,000, $25,000, or $10,000 for 
having demonstrated superior ability and achievement and having 
completed a significant piece of work in the areas of science, music, 
literature, mathematics, or technology. I would like to take this time 
to introduce each of these scholars and the various projects they have 
undertaken.
  In the area of science, we have eight young students with remarkable 
projects that have contributed to scientific progress. Among this group 
of scholars is Shalini Ramanan. A 17-year-old young woman from 
Richland, WA, Shalini Ramanan worked with a natural dietary component 
of the spice turmeric called BC to test its effectiveness in treating 
cardiovascular diseases. Through cell migration assays and western blot 
techniques, she discovered that BC inhibited platelet-derived growth 
factor (PDGF)-induced vascular smooth muscle cell migration and 
signaling. Using bioinformatics, she identified target genes connected 
with signaling pathways. PDGF-stimulated cell-migration and 
proliferation are key pathological events in a variety of diseases 
including atherosclerosis and cancer. Her studies may help design and 
characterize novel drug molecules with clinical applications.
  A 17-year-old young man from Mahopac, NY, Jayanth Krishnan developed 
an approach to infer regulatory mechanisms governing changes in gene 
expression and identified possible proteins that induce cancer. By 
creating a web interface that could predict transcription factors for 
dis-regulated genes, and mathematical models using MATLAB, he was able 
to predict proteins that are correlated with certain cancer families. 
Using this information, he calculated several combinations of drugs, 
for 60 different cancers, that have the potential to counteract the 
inducing agents and better guide therapeutics.
  Lucy Wang, a 17-year-old young woman from Garnet Valley, PA, 
developed a predictive model to detect adolescent depression with an 
overall correct classification of 83.66 percent. Untreated depression 
is the No. 1 cause of suicide and the third leading cause of death 
among teenagers. Using factor analysis and logistic regression, she 
focused on quantifying variables that may lead to adolescent 
depression, including student self-reported experiences and 
demographics. Lucy's model will offer a robust instrument for school 
psychologists to evaluate the risk of future depression.
  A 17-year-old young man from Houston, TX, Sunil Pai constructed an 
inexpensive, nanotechnology-based system to determine quantum energies 
of superoxide. By examining oxygen in the liquid phase instead of the 
gas phase, his potentiostat system can determine the quantum structure 
for the electron attachment reaction of oxygen to superoxide. The 
determination of oxygen's physical properties is essential to fully 
understanding the role oxygen and many free radicals have in cell 
processes. This experimentation method may establish other molecular 
properties that will offer new insights into biological and 
environmental processes.
  Caleb Kumar, a 15-year-old young man from Blaine, MN, developed an 
algorithm that automates the diagnosis of bladder cancer. Bladder 
cancer is on the rise with more than 71,000 new cases in 2009. By first 
identifying indicative bladder cancer cellular characteristics, Caleb 
programmed morphometric algorithms to quantitatively examine the 
bladder cell images, and then engineered a Java neural network that 
differentiates cancerous cells from normal cells based on shape, color 
and curvature. Caleb's software is accurate, quick and inexpensive 
compared to current methods, and has the potential to provide faster, 
cheaper and more precise diagnoses of cytological diseases.
  A 17-year-old young man from Bloomfield Hills, MI, Siddhartha Jena 
demonstrated that the immediate effect of elevated cholesterol is 
dysfunction of active water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide transport by 
the red blood cells. Using a spectrofluorometer and Zeta Sizer, he 
showed that exposure of red blood cells to two compounds: ONO-RS-082 
and glyburide, results in an amelioration of cholesterol's detrimental 
effects. Results from his work broaden the understanding of one of the 
most significant health risks facing our society, and the possible 
mechanism for its future treatment and management.
  Benjamin Clark, a 15-year-old young man from Lancaster, PA, 
determined the frequency at which M stars form close binary star 
systems using spectroscopic data from over 39,000 M dwarf stars. Using 
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS, Benjamin designed a methodology to 
use the extremely large, but low resolution and signal-to-noise ratio 
database, to calculate the close binary fraction. Star formation has 
long been an open question in astrophysics and this data can be used to 
test theories of how this process occurs.
  A 16-year-old young woman from Lancaster, PA, Marian Bechtel designed 
a seismo-acoustic method for detecting landmines. Approximately 70 
million landmines plague 80 countries worldwide, claiming one victim 
every 22 minutes. With Marian's method, two

[[Page 15012]]

high-sensitivity, non-contact microphones are swept above buried 
landmines that resonate in response to a remote seismic source. The 
recorded sound is noise-cancelled in real-time, creating a 
characteristic, audible null in the noise-cancelled waveform that 
isolates the mine's location. This efficient and inexpensive method 
could make important contributions to humanitarian demining.
  Raja Selvakumar, a 15-year-old young man from Alpharetta, GA, 
developed the gastro microbial fuel cell, GMFC. Based on the microbial 
fuel cell, the GMFC generates electricity using gastrobacteria, to be 
used to power capsular nanobots. Current lithium ion batteries in 
biomedical capsular nanobots are not able to sustain power for long 
periods of time; the GMFC has the potential to solve this problem. The 
GMFC-powered capsular nanobot can play an important role in treating 
gastrointestinal diseases through intracellular diagnosis and surgery.
  In the area of mathematics, there are three young people who I would 
like to recognize at this time. Matthew Bauerle, a 16-year-old young 
man from Fenton, MI, outlined how the Newton direction can be computed 
by solving a weighted linear least squares problem. When fitting a 
model to data, such as a line to a set of points, the least squares 
method is currently the most popular technique. Matthew's work focused 
on minimizing the L1 norm of the error which is the sum of the absolute 
values of the individual errors. Matthew's work has potential in the 
medical imaging and scanning fields, as well as facial recognition and 
fluid dynamics simulations.
  A 16-year-old young woman from Carmel, IN, Rebecca Chen studied a 
generalized version of the Yang-Baxter equation. The Yang-Baxter 
equation provides a systematic method for discovering braid group 
representations, important in topology and quantum information science. 
Using algebraic computations and computer numerical checking, she 
classified three families of 8x8 matrix solutions to the generalized 
Yang-Baxter equation. These solutions provide a way to generate 
braiding quantum gates needed in quantum computing, and contribute to 
the ongoing effort to build a large-scale quantum computer, bringing 
advances in fields as far ranging as materials sciences and 
cryptography.
  Anirudh Prabhu, a 16-year-old young man from West Lafayette, IN, 
established the first nontrivial analytic lower bounds for odd perfect 
numbers. The search for odd perfect numbers is one of the oldest 
unsolved problems in mathematics. Many upper bounds for odd perfect 
numbers are established, however, no nontrivial analytic lower bounds 
had been reported prior to Anirudh's work. By narrowing the gap between 
analytic upper and lower bounds, his work suggests an approach for 
proving the nonexistence of odd perfect numbers and could contribute to 
data encryption technology.
  Two remarkable young people received awards for their technology 
projects. A 16-year-old young man from Columbia, SC, Arjun Aggarwal 
created GNut-III, an anthropometric interactive robot with vision, 
intelligence and speech. He found the lack of an economically efficient 
and functional human robot has prohibited researchers from continuing 
to expand the field of robotics. To counter this, the GNut-III is 
economically efficient and functional for testing robotic algorithms. 
In addition to the GNut-III, Arjun has outlined a scattered open source 
community to work on a standardized platform that could transform 
robotics in the same way it has transformed computing.
  A 16-year-old young woman from Rochester, MN, Cheenar Banerjee 
developed a method for emotion detection by computers. It remains a 
challenge for computers to recognize and respond correctly to the 
emotional states of an interactive user. After removing some facial 
detail by converting facial images to black-and-white sketches, Cheenar 
used fractal analyses to differentiate among emotions using the fractal 
dimensions. This process has the potential to be simpler, cheaper and 
more effective than current techniques of emotion detection by 
computers.
  In the area of music, I would like to recognize three more scholars. 
A 14-year-old young woman from Seattle, WA, Simone Porter, in her 
violin portfolio, Performance as Soundtrack of Process and Identity, 
examines the progression of performance preparation, from the 
development of technique and interpretation, to the emergence of a 
professional identity. This process led her to comprehend the 
transformative, inspirational and transcendent potency music possesses. 
Through performance, Simone believes music has the potential to aid our 
society, and help achieve a kinder, more tolerant attitude toward 
ourselves and our natural environment. Simone was a featured performer 
on PBS' ``From the Top at Carnegie Hall.''
  A 16-year-old young woman from Gates Mills, OH, Arianna Korting, in 
her portfolio, Celebration of Life through the Piano, showcased Haydn, 
Ginastera and Liszt. Through the piano, she hopes to bring audiences 
into the lives of the great composers to experience their humor, 
tenderness and brilliance. She believes music has the power to 
transform space and time because it has been a constant presence even 
through the most difficult moments in history. Arianna has been 
featured on NPR's ``From the Top,'' and started The Animato Project, an 
interactive program of classical music for elementary school children.
  Reylon Yount, a 16-year-old young man from San Francisco, CA, created 
a yangqin, or Chinese hammered dulcimer, portfolio that has contributed 
to the preservation of Chinese music, to the introduction of Chinese 
music to people in the United States, and to the overall 
interconnection of the music world. His work attempts to take people 
past the conventional shapes and forms of Western music, helping them 
appreciate the universality of art. He hopes that such cross-cultural 
music will build a deeper connection between the East and West, and 
inspire people to love all music.
  And finally, I would like to introduce Bonnie Nortz, a 17-year old 
young woman with superior achievement in the area of literature. 
Bonnie's portfolio, Run and Run and Run, explores relationships, 
identity, materialism, oppression and emotion, and covers topics as 
broad as tourism, grammar, dreams, cartography, winter and even pre-
calculus. Her goal was to find the extraordinary in the mundane, the 
pure in the imperfect, and to describe that moment of awakening when 
everything is just the way it should be. Bonnie hopes to teach others 
how to go through life with an everlasting energy and curiosity and to 
appreciate the fantastic emotional and intellectual complexity that 
comprises our human existence.
  I have long said that America's gifted and talented students possess 
remarkable potential for our great Nation. These 18 young individuals 
have demonstrated more than potential. They have already made 
significant contributions to their fields and our society in their 
short lives and one can scarcely begin to imagine how much they will 
contribute to their fields and society in the years to come, thanks in 
no small part to the encouragement of the Davidson Institute as well as 
their, family, friends, and mentors. These young men and women are an 
inspiration and a reminder that if we fully support our most talented 
young people, we can look forward to a bright future.

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