High School Students Selected to Participate in the 13th USA Biology Olympiad Finals at Purdue University

Mc Lean, VA, May 14, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​​The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) announces that twenty top high school students from this nation will attend Purdue University from May 31 to June 12 for the thirteenth Annual USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) National Finals.  Students will participate in 10 days of biology instruction inclusive of laboratory training and conceptual understanding followed by two days of testing to determine the four members of Team USA.

Finalists from ten states were selected based on their scores from the USABO Open and Semifinal Exams.  Nearly, 10,500 talented students registered nationally for the USABO.  The mission of the USABO is to encourage excellence in biology education throughout the United States and to challenge students and their teachers to reach the gold standard in biology. 

"CEE is proud to partner with Purdue University to train the USABO National Finalists in practical and theoretical biology. These are the highest achieving biology students across this country, and it is exciting to nurture them during the national competition and to prepare them for the international competition in Denmark."

Joann DiGennaro, President of CEE

The USABO national finalists will gather at Purdue to compete for U.S. medals.  This marks the sixth consecutive year that Purdue has co-sponsored the finals with CEE.  The top four medalists will participate July 12-19 at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Aarhaus, Denmark.  The IBO is a competitive event where students, ages 14 to 19, from all over the world compete on their knowledge of biology. 

Ms. Kathy Frame, Director of the USABO and Special Projects, Center for Excellence in Education and Dr. Clark Gedney, Director, Bio Media Center for Instructional Design, Purdue University manage the administration of the USABO.

While at Purdue, the finalists will participate in intensive theoretical and practical tutorials.  The high school students will study with leading U.S. biologists who are experts in the fields of cellular & molecular biology, plant anatomy & physiology, animal anatomy & physiology, ethology, genetics & evolution, ecology, ethology, and biosystematics. 

At the conclusion of the two weeks, the students take two exams - a practical and a theoretical.  The four highest scoring students will be named Team USA 2015 and will represent the United States at the international competition. 

The National Finalists going to Purdue for the 2015 USA Biology Olympiad are:

California

Kevin Bao, Troy High School, Fullerton

Marcello Kendrew Chang, Mira Loma High School, Sacramento

Rowan Ting Cheung, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica

Jordan Elizabeth Docter, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica

Aneesh Samineni, The King’s Academy, Sunnyvale

Zilu Lu Pan, Canyon Crest High School, San Diego

Kentaro Tanaka, Santa Clara High School, Santa Clara

Maxwell Lu Zhu, Cambridge Educational Institute, Chino Hills

Delaware

David Li Xu, The Charter School of Wilmington, Wilmington

Indiana

Boyang Dun, Canterbury School, Fort Wayne

Massachusetts

Jueun Lee, Lexington High School, Lexington

Michigan

David Wei Wu, Troy High School, Troy

Minnesota

Varun Mangalick, Mounds View High School, Arden Hills

New Jersey

Grace Chen, Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School, Bridgewater

Michael Gao, Freehold High School, Freehold

Roger Jin, West Windsor Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro

David Kang Myung Yang, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack

Texas

Siddarth Guha, Dulles High School, Sugar Land

Virginia

Neeraj Prasad, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria

Washington

Yilun Du, Pullman High School, Pullman

About the Center for Excellence in Education

The Center for Excellence in Education was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H.G. River and Joann P. DiGennaro, President of the Center. The Center's mission is to nurture high school and university scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and to encourage collaboration between and among leaders in the global community. CEE sponsors the Research Science Institute (RSI), the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO), and the Teacher Enrichment Program (TEP). 

Media Contacts: 

Maureen Palmer, 703-448-9062 ext. 224, mpalmer@cee.org                                 

Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Sources:    

Kathy Frame, 571-228-0098, kframe@cee.org

Clark Gedney, 765-494-0157, cgedney@purdue.edu

Related websites:

USA Biology Olympiad: http://www.cee.org/usa-biology-olympiad-usabo​/

Center for Excellence in Education: http://www.cee.org/

Purdue College of Science: https://www.science.purdue.edu/

Discovery Park: http://www.purdue.edu/dp/ 

International Biology Olympiad: http://www.ibo-inf​