CEE Announces the USA Biology Olympiad National Finalists

USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) 2011

USA Biology Olympiad National Finalists Selected to Participate at Purdue University- - Program Will Result in Four Scholars to Represent the U.S. at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO)

The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) is pleased to announce that 20 Finalists have been selected to attend the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) National Finals at Purdue University. The finalists were selected based on their high scores from two challenging exams, the USABO Open Exam and Semifinal Exam. Nearly 10,500 students registered for the USABO open exam this year.

The USA Biology Olympiad National Finalists are among the highest achieving biology high school students in this nation,” said Joann DiGennaro, President of CEE. “The Center is proud to collaborate with Purdue University to train high academic achievers in practical and theoretical biology to propel them to science careers.”

The USABO National Finalists will gather at Purdue to compete for U.S. medals and one of the four places on Team USA to participate in July in the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Taiwan, Chinese Taipei. Korean Air, the official airline of the 2011 USABO, will provide tickets for Team USA to attend the IBO, a worldwide competition involving student teams from sixty countries.

The National Finals consist of two weeks of intensive theoretical and practical tutorials where students study with leading U.S. biologists who are experts in the fields of cellular biology, microbiology, biotechnology, plant anatomy & physiology, animal anatomy & physiology, ethology, genetics & evolution, ecology, and biosystematics.

At the conclusion of the two weeks, the students take two exams, a practical and theoretical. The four highest scoring students will be named “Team USA 2011” and will represent this nation at the IBO. Members of Team USA earned gold medals at the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 IBO competitions.

2011 USA Biology Olympiad National Finalists:

California

• Nikhil Buduma, Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose
• Angela Chen, Henry M. Gunn Senior High School, Palo Alto
• Nhi Ho, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica
• Audrey Huang, Mission San Jose High School. San Jose
• Russell Islam, Mira Loma High School, Sacramento
• Jing Liu, Mission San Jose High School, San Jose
• David Shabsovich, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica
• Chelsea Voss, Cupertino High School, Cupertino

Delaware

• Lei Ding, The Charter School of Wilmington, Wilmington

Illinois

• Charles H. Du, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Chicago
• Jonathan Pan, Naperville Central High School, Naperville
• Jeffrey Wang, Rockford Auburn High School, Rockford

Maryland

• Alexander Briese, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring

Massachusetts

• Fred Yu, Westford Academy, Westford

New Jersey

• Lauren Chung, Glenn Rock High School, Glenn Rock
• Rebecca Shi, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, West Windsor

Texas

• Victoria Cui, Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School, Austin
• Dong Hyug Lim, James E. Taylor High School, Katy
• Shulin Ye, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton

Virginia

• Min Cheol Kim, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria

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About the Center for Excellence in Education The Center for Excellence in Education was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H.G. Rickover 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 National Lab Skills Initiative (NLSI). For more information about the Center and its programs, visit CEE’s Web site, www.cee.org

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