Indian-American teenager Shivani Sud bags a whopping $100,000 Intel scholarship
Honoring the next generation of American innovators, Intel Corporation today announced the winners of the Intel Science Talent Search(A competition often referred to as the “junior Nobel Prize). Indian-American teenager Shivani Sud, 17, of Durham, N.C., won the top award, a $100,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation. For her research project, Sud developed a model that analyzed 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. Shivani developed an interest in cancer research after an immediate family member diagnosed with brain tumor was saved by the doctors.
Shivani Sud is also among the winner of Morehead-Cain Scholarships at UNC-Chapel Hill. The prestigious scholarship pays all expenses for four years of undergraduate study, including the cost of a laptop computer and four summer enrichment experiences. Its value is about $80,000 for each in-state student and $140,000 for each out-of-state student.
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.
