Agency report
New Delhi, May 22: Four Indian students have won prestigious US awards in international contests organised by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and Intel.
While three prizewinners are from the Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai, one is from Amity International School in Haryana.
From the Mumbai school, Yashraj Khaitan won the second prize in an aeronautics essay contest on ‘Air Transportation in 2057’ held by the NASA. Tanay Delima and Nikhil Khosla of the same school won the fourth prize in the Group Projects category in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007 (Intel ISEF) held in Alberque, New Mexico, May 13-19.
Ketan Sharma of Amity International School won the third prize in the NASA-organised contest.
Teens from across the US and six other countries submitted 88 essays in four categories - US individual, US team, international individual and international team. In all, 14 teams and 75 individual students submitted essays to NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Programme that sponsored the contest, a NASA press release said.
The essays were reviewed by 24 NASA managers and engineers from four NASA centres. They based their scores on how well students focused their essays and how well they addressed four basic criteria - informed content, creativity and imagination, organization, and writing.
Second prize winner Yashraj is pursuing the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at the Dhirubhai Ambani International School. His essay was on the influence of successful implementation of supersonic and hypersonic technologies on space and air travel 50 years down the line.
According to a Reliance Industries press release, Yashraj has been a star performer in both academics and co-curricular activities. He has participated in several technology festivals, exhibiting his scientific and technological acumen. He has also played national level squash tournaments.
Tanay and Nikhil won the fourth prize in the Intel contest for their project - 'A novel advanced brake light warning system to prevent vehicular tailgating accidents'.
Intel ISEF is the world's largest pre-college science competition that provides an opportunity for young scientists from around the globe to share ideas, showcase cutting-edge science projects, and compete for a number of awards in scholarships and scientific field trips.
Students who participate in Intel ISEF compete with over 65,000 students at more than 500 regional Intel ISEF affiliated science fairs around the world to win the right to attend the prestigious contest.
This year, 1,400 students from across the world participated in the Intel ISEF.