Arjun Ramamurti, a senior from Lexington High School won the New England Regional, a silver medal, a $3000 scholarship and an opportunity to compete for $100,000 at the prestigious 2006 National Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science & Technology. The competition recognizes remarkable talent early on, fostering individual growth for high school students who are willing to challenge themselves through science research. Through this competition, students have an opportunity to achieve national recognition for science research projects that they complete in high school.

In his biology project titled "Exploring the Guenon Mystery: An Evolutionary Analysis Using Phylogenetic Trees", Arjun Ramamurti combined multiple methodologies to help unravel the mystery of how guenon monkeys evolved.  His research could increase the likelihood that some day we will understand how species (including man) evolve over long periods of time as their genetic makeup and behavior adapt to changes in the environment.  Mr. Ramamurti conceived his project after reading an article in Discover Magazine that claimed the evolution of the guenon monkey was tremendously complex.  His research involved phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences for sixteen guenon species and positing a potential path of migration for the guenon out of Central Africa over the last one million years.  His mentor was Dr. Susan Offner, a biology teacher at Lexington High School.

Arjun Ramamurti is fluent in Tamil and Spanish.  He won Second Place in the 2005 Massachusetts State Science Fair and Honorable Mention at the same event in 2006.  A highly accomplished cellist who has studied privately at the New England Conservatory for nine years, Mr. Ramamurti has served as assistant principal cellist with the Massachusetts All-State Orchestra and principal cellist with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Repertory Orchestra.  He spent six weeks this past summer in Tambaram, India teaching English to 5-7 graders.   A member of the National Honor Society, he enjoys reading, baseball and basketball and hopes to attends Harvard University.

Congratulations to all the other winners from the New England region including:

Regional Finalists:
Karthik Kasaraneni, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT
Sudarsana Mohanty, Lincoln School, Providence, RI

Semifinalists:
Ayesha Samant, Convent of Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT
Allic Sivaramakrishnan, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT
Mala Krishnamoorthy, Mass. Academy of Math. and Sc., Worcester, MA
Shinjini Kundu, Amherst Regional High School, AMherst, MA
Palak Patel, Lowell High School, Lowell, MA
Prabhat Putchakayala, Acton-Boxborough High School, Acton, MA

|