Simons Summer Research Program Fellow Places Second in Intel Science Talent Search

Each year, the summer research program has entrants in the Intel Science Talent Search (STS), among the most prestigious science research competitions in the U.S. for high school seniors. The Intel STS strives to offer a national stage for the country’s most talented young scientists to present their original research.

This year, Saranesh (Saran) Thanika Prembabu, who participated in the 2014 summer research program, received the Second Place Medal of Distinction for Innovation at the Intel STS award ceremony on March 10 in Washington, D.C.

Prembabu, of San Ramon, California, studied how varying the layers of lead titanate and strontium ruthenate in nanocrystal superlattices can affect their electrical and magnetic properties, which could be harnessed for a variety of electrical and computing applications. He received $75,000 in recognition of his work. As part of the summer research program, Matthew Dawber, associate professor of physics at Stony Brook, mentored Prembabu during his research

Established in 1984, the Simons Summer Research Program is supported by the Simons Foundation and by individual faculty grants. It now receives nearly 350 applicants each year, from which approximately 40 fellows are selected. Last year, three students who participated in the program were finalists in the Intel STS, one receiving second place, and another receiving sixth. To learn more about the Simons Summer Research Program and some of its fellows, click here.

To learn more about the 2015 Intel STS, click here.