Sunanda Sharma of Shrewsbury, MA was named one of the 40 Finalists, while Pooja Reddy Pendri of South Glastonbury, CT along with nearly 40 Indian-American students were among the 300 semi-finalists in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search, America's most prestigious pre-college science competition.

Sunanda Sharma, 17, is a senior at Shrewsbury High School. Her project was titled 'Modification of Developing and Mature Brain Circuits in an Autism Model through Sensory and Social Enrichment'. She investigated the effect of an enriched environment on autism-relevant behavior for her Intel Science Talent Search project in behavioral & social sciences. Focusing on an autism candidate gene (called PTEN), active in embryo formation and development, she studied both juvenile and adult mice, using those with PTEN irregularities as autism models. After exposing them to significant sensory and social enrichment, she quantified changes in their behavior through a set of tests that measured patterns of social approach and anxiety, both critical in determining potential interventions in any autism model. She believes her findings show that environmental enrichment can be used to influence deficits in brain circuitry caused by genetic abnormality even when the gene is very early-acting, and is a co-author of a paper on the subject being prepared for publication. She has won numerous honors in state and regional science fairs. She is a native of India and the daughter of Jitendra and Usha Sharma.

Sunanda has a 4.8 grade-point average and ranks fifth out of 387 in the senior class. She is also president of the school's nationally ranked Speech and Debate Club, plays clarinet in the band, works on the newspaper and is a mentor. Ms. Sharma has been accepted to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with plans of becoming a medical doctor and researcher. Her brother, Samvaran, a 2008 Shrewsbury High School graduate, is also an MIT student. Her father is a scientist at MIT and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Her mother works in financial services.

Pendri, Pooja Reddy Pendri, 17, of South Glastonbury is a senior at Choate Rosemary Hall School, Wallingford, CT. Her project dealt with
'Natural Molecule Inspires Novel Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs'.

The Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) is America's most prestigious pre-college science competition. Alumni of STS have made extraordinary contributions to science and hold more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including seven Nobel Prizes and three National Medals of Science. The Intel STS recognizes 300 students and their schools as Semifinalists each year pulling from approximately 1,700 applicants to compete for $1.25 million in awards. From that select pool, 40 student Finalists are then invited to Washington, D.C. in March to participate in final judging, display their work to the public, meet with notable scientists, and compete for the top award of $100,000.

|