The 2015 Siemens Competition national finals will be held at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., December 6-8, 2015, where $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.

The individual winners and finalists are:

Andrew Chen (Fremont, CA)
Maria Grimmett (Jupiter, FL)
Milind Jagota (Bethelehem, PA)
Vikas Maturi (Carmel, IN)
Sanjana Rane (Prospect, KY)
Dominick Rowan (Armonk, NY)

Sanjana Rane, a senior from duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Ky., won the individual category and a $3,000 scholarship for her project entitled, "Effects of the Environmental Pollutant Acrolein on Renal Fibrosis."

Sanjana's research has helped discover how a particular protein could be used to detect and treat renal fibrosis, preventing its progression into end-stage renal disease – an incurable total failure of the kidneys.

"Sanjana identified and presented a novel role of a protein that could vastly change the way we're able to detect and treat kidney fibrosis before it progresses to life-threatening kidney disease" said competition judge Alan Lloyd, Professor of Molecular Biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. "The time and commitment made to reforming and retesting her hypotheses advanced her findings and their clinical application – which are traits of a great scientist."

An interest in pursuing medical research arose for Sanjana when she read a national newspaper story which ranked Louisville, her hometown, as one of the worst air quality cities in the United States. Sanjana began looking into the dangers of air pollution and learned about the chemical acrolein, which is found in both cigarette and industrial smoke and can cause kidney damage. As she delved further into the research, she began to focus on how to shift the chemical's influence on the kidneys using a particular protein as a therapeutic target.

Looking forward to a potential career, Sanjana is interested in pursuing medicine and practicing regenerative medicine to explore how to use stem cells to treat diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis and ALS.

Beyond academics, Sanjana starts at outside back for her high school's soccer team and mentors kindergarten students at a local elementary school.

Sanjana's mentor is Shunying Jin, Research Associate at the University of Louisville.
 
Vikas Maturi, a senior from Carmel Senior High School in Carmel, Ind., won the individual category and a $3,000 scholarship for his project entitled, "Engineered Intraocular Injection Guide (IIG): Pain Reduction in Ophthalmic Disease Treatment."

While Vikas worked a summer job at an eye disease treatment center near his home, he became motivated to develop a product that could reduce or eliminate pain from pre-injection procedures for ophthalmic patients.

"It's rare to see this level of progress achieved in an independent project, but Vikas has single-handedly advanced pain reduction for ophthalmic patients," said competition judge Dr. W. Matthew Leevy, Research Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences and Director, Biological Imaging at the University of Notre Dame. "Vikas identified a problem and invented a device – after a successful critical trial. This sort of exhaustive and thorough problem solving is worth celebrating."

Vikas Maturi aspires to be a social designer or design engineer and anticipates majoring in product design and/or biomechanical engineering in college. Vikas is especially inspired by the growing incorporation of engineering in the social design world – he loves his Engineering Design and Development class. Currently, Vikas and his research collaborator are modeling and prototyping a product that captures, redirects and filters flood water in developing countries. Outside of the classroom, Vikas enjoys playing soccer and piano, and also serves as president of TechHOUNDS Robotics, of which he leads a 140-person team and implements STEM outreach initiatives.

Vikas' mentor is Dr. Kimberly Vogt, Professor of Biology at Marian University.

Milind Jagota, a senior from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa., won the individual category and a $3,000 scholarship for his project entitled, "Computational Study of Random Nanowire Networks: Optimization of Conductivity through Orientation."

Milind Jagota's project, focused on improving performance of electronic materials that could be used in electronic devices from solar panels to smartphones, looks to foster innovation across areas of electronic production. As smartphones and tablets increased their prominence in everyday life, Milind became intrigued by the magic happening behind the touch screens, and the technology which made this possible. His research made apparent the critical role of transparent conductors in touchscreens and the impact of their broader use.

"The development of such novel transparent conducting films has the potential to significantly improve modern electronics," said competition judge Dr. Ali Khademhosseini, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Biomaterials Innovation Research Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "The findings of his project showcase that more affordable electronic devices could be the wave of the future as materials become more affordable in production."

Milind aspires to be an electronics engineer and is interested in both consumer electronics and medical technology. To date, his proudest achievements include publishing this research project in the Nature Publishing Group's Scientific Reports and participating in the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences. Milind plans to major in engineering physics or electrical engineering in college.

Milind Jagota's mentor is Dr. Nelson Tansu, Daniel E. '39 & Patricia M. Smith Endowed Chair Professor and Director of the Center for Photonics and Nanoelectronics (CPN) at Lehigh University.

The team winners and finalists are:
Daniel Chae (Oakton, VA); Sidharth Bommakanti (Pleasanton, CA); Alan Tan (Fremont, CA)
Emily Cheng (Lansdale, PA); Kelly Jiang (Wayne, PA), Gerald Liu (Audubon, PA)
Robert Luo (Dallas, TX); Helen Zhang (Dallas, TX)
Evelyn, McChesney(Golden Valley, MN); Madeline McCue (Minneapolis, MN)
Kimberly Te (Manhasset, NY); Christine Yoo (Manhasset, NY)
David Zhu (Saratoga, CA); Evani Radiya-Dixit  (San Jose, CA)

For additional information, visit:
http://siemensusa.synapticdigital.com/US/Siemens-Foundation

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