Where Girl Scientists Rule

By Albert Sun

Who says that young women can't compete in science? In last year's high school science competitions, there were 10 prizes to be claimed for $50,000 or more. Of these, seven of the ten were claimed by girls, including all three of the top-level $100,000 prizes.

There was some comfort for those worried about how U. S. high schoolers stack up against their counterparts from China and India. Of the three competitions, the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) was the only one open to non-U.S. students, while the Siemens Competition and the Intel Science Talent Search (STS) were not. Nevertheless in the ISEF, two of the top three prizes were claimed by U.S. students.