Wasserman’s computer science project researched whether computer encryption codes are impossible to break. Judges said his work could potentially be used to prove that they are.
Lu’s biochemistry project looked at how cells transmit signals that could contribute to cancer. Judges said it could potentially help identify a new target for cancer treatment drugs.
Both said they picked subjects in which they are actively interested.
‘‘I had a fairly substantial interest in computer science,” Wasserman said. ‘‘I’ve been doing theoretical computer stuff since I was very young.”
Lu said he decided on his topic around the time his father was recovering from lymphoma.
‘‘I knew at the time that I wanted to find out as much as I could about cancer and its treatment,” he said.
For the competition, which had more than 1,300 applicants, the students submitted papers on their topics in October before being selected to be among 300 semifinalists who had to make a display of their project to present at the regional finals.
‘‘It was a pretty big deal,” Wasserman said. ‘‘I set up practice rounds with people at my high school. I got together with a whole lot of teachers [and] with people at the University of Maryland.”
Both students worked closely with teachers and mentors. Dr. J. Silvio Gutkind, a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health who served as Lu’s mentor, regularly supervised his research.
‘‘It was an amazing experience to work with him,” Gutkind said. ‘‘He grasped what we were doing from the get-go ... and I can tell you that many college-level students may not be able to grasp what they were doing.”
Susan Ragan, the research coordinator for Montgomery Blair’s magnet science program and Wasserman’s teacher, helped Wasserman coordinate his application and pick a topic.
‘‘He’s an extremely bright young man,” she said. ‘‘He did a very theoretical project in computer science, which is a very difficult field to work in.”
Ragan said Wasserman had such a good grasp of his subject matter that he even was invited to speak to a computer science class at the University of Maryland taught by William Garsarcg, Wasserman’s official mentor.
Jim Whaley, president of the Siemens foundation, said it’s a ‘‘great honor” to make it to the regional finals.
‘‘They’re competing against the best and brightest across the nation,” he said. ‘‘Some of these students, their projects are at the doctoral level, even though they’re in high school. They’re that good.”
Both students said they plan on attending college.
‘‘I want to eventually become a professor, but I’ll probably be doing work in theoretical computer science and math,” Wasserman said. ‘‘And if I do any research in my freshman year, it will certainly be in theoretical computer science.”
Lu said he doesn’t know yet what he will study.
‘‘Probably something to do with bio[logy],” he said.
