Mary Masterman of Oklahoma City Awarded $100,000 Intel Scholarship

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 20, 2007 - Innovation was the word of the day as Intel announced the winners of the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS). The top award, a $100,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation went to Mary Masterman, a 17 year old, who built an accurate spectrograph that identifies the specific characteristics - or "fingerprints" - of different kinds of molecules. Spectrographs have wide applications in research and industry and can cost as much as $100,000, in comparison to Mary's invention which costs hundreds of dollars. 

Second to tenth place winners received between $75,000 and $20,000 scholarships, while the remaining 30 finalists received $5,000 in scholarships and new Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology based notebooks.

More than 1,700 high school seniors in the United States entered Intel STS. Of those, 300 were chosen as semifinalists in January, and of these, 40 finalists were invited to Washington, D.C. to compete for the top 10 awards. 

"For nearly 40 years, Intel has worked to encourage and develop new generations of innovators," said Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, who awarded the scholarships to the winning students at a gala in Washington, D.C. "I am particularly heartened by the fact that more women were finalists and top 10 winners this year than in any year since Intel assumed the title sponsorship in 1998."

Barrett visited the Middle East in December 2006 marking the first anniversary of the Digital Transformation Initiative in the region. Barrett's visit focused on the milestones accomplished in education, digital accessibility, specialized technical competencies and local entrepreneurship.

During his visit, Barrett hosted a gala celebrating Intel's Digital Transformation Anniversary, where he was witness to a showcase of Intel's accomplishments in the region. Dana Jamal, a 16 year old Jordanian student, gave a presentation about her project that was submitted for the Intel International Science and Education Fair (ISEF).

Intel is also making significant investments in education across the Middle East Region. The Intel Teach Program in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey trains teachers to integrate IT into their classroom teaching. To date, the Intel Teach Program has trained more than 55,000 teachers and improved the classroom experiences of approximately 2 million students in the region. 

Endorsing local innovation and talent is top on Intel's agenda for the region. The Intel Engineering Excellence Program in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey awarded thirteen students from across the Middle East and Turkey with a three to six months internship at one of Intel's sites around the world.

One of the most recent education initiatives is the SKOOOL.COM.SA website in Saudi Arabia. Intel partnered with Saudi content provider Obeikan Research and Development and launched the first Arabic e-Learning Portal, skoool.com.sa, specifically tailored to the Saudi government academic curriculums from K to 12th grade. Skoool.com.sa provides media-rich learning resources focused on math and science for students and teachers in Saudi Arabia. The program allows students and teachers to explore key mathematical concepts such as numbers, decimals, fractions, geometry and algebra. Doing so, skoool provides open-ended and almost infinite learning paths, placing control in the hands of students and teachers.

In May 2005, at the state of Arizona, USA, Jordan took part in the international fair with two projects, a single and a group project.  In May 2006 and with the support of MobileCom, Jordan also participated in the international fair held at the state of Indiana, USA, with four single projects and two group ones where two Jordanian students won prizes at the fair.

Intel ISEF is the world's only international science fair. Every year, more than one million students in grades 9-12 in nearly 500 regional scientific fairs around the world participate in 17 different scientific fields, where more than 1400 students from more than 40 countries win the chance to compete over $3 million presented as scholarships and prizes at the Intel ISEF.

To learn more about Intel's commitment to education around the world, visit www.intel.com/education.

Photo Caption: Dr. Craig Barrett, Intel Chairman with Jordanian student Dana Jamal, during his visit to the Middle East region celebrating the one year anniversary of the Digital Transformation Initiative.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. For more information please visit www.intel.com/pressroom.

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© Press Release 2007