Intel Awards for 40 Indian-Americans

India's Malvika Vinod Tiwari and 40 Indian-American teenage students are among the winners of 'Grand Awards' in various scientific disciplines at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world's most prestigious pre-college competition, in the United States.

Malvika of St Mary's Convent High School in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, won her grand award in Engineering category for her project 'Foot-operated vehicle device for the physically challenged.'

Forty Indian-American students were also among the winners of grand awards that were presented to the finalists of the 2005 Intel International Science and Engineering fair at Phoenix, Arizona on Friday.

The overall Grand Awards of $50,000 scholarship each were won by Ameen Abdulrasool of Chicago, Ill; Gabrielle Alyce Gianelli of Orlando, Fla,; and Stephen Schultz of Nordrhein-Westfahlen, Germany for projects on a navigational system for the blind, possible discovery of an ancient coastline on Mars and a lower-cost technology to analyse compounds used to protect against diseases, respectively.

They were among 1,447 students who competed at the 56th annual international event in Phoenix, Arizona.

Each year, tens of thousands of students participate in regional affiliated fairs to earn the opportunity to compete at Intel ISEF. They present their projects in one of 14 scientific disciplines: Behavioural and Social Science, Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Medicine and Health, Microbiology, Physics, Space Science and Zoology.

In the Grand Awards' 'Best of Category' awards, the top-scoring student in each project category receives a $5,000 scholarship and a laptop computer from Intel.

These students' schools and fair directors also receive $1,000 to benefit science and mathematics education and encourage more student involvement in science.

In the 'Organisational Award' category, which is other than 'Grand Awards' at the fair, four Indian students and 26 students of Indian origin were among the winners.

In this category, Mihir Tandon and Riddhiman Yadava, both 15, from New Delhi's Modern School (Vasant Vihar) won the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance/ Lemelson Foundation Prize scholarship worth $1,000 for improvised artificial limb.

This award is given for creativity, technological innovation and commercial promise.

Suvrata Desai and Mallika Dhillon Desai, both 16, from Goa's Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, received the Ashtavadhani Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty (AVASC) Foundation award in the same category. They won Second Award of $500 US Savings Bond for their project 'Traditional Spices as Biopesticides.'

The AVASC award is given for projects that display outstanding creativity, ingenuity and have the potential to alleviate the human condition or mark a substantive advance in the scientific field.

Also, 14 Indian-American finalists at the Intel-ISEF were presented with 'Government and Industry awards', which is a separate category.

The Intel-ISEF brings together more than 1,400 students from 45 countries, regions and territories to compete for over $3 million awards and scholarships.

The 'Grand Award' is highest of all and the most coveted one at the fair. It is open to all finalists.