VOLUME 12, NO. 1     JUNE 1998

Mass. Academy junior honored at science symposium

Karen Mendelson, a junior at the Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science, garnered top honors at the 1998 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF). Mendelson and a student from Little Rock, Ark., won the Glenn T. Seaborg Nobel Trip Award as the top two all-around competitors; both plan to attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, in December. Mendelson also received the Best of Category award in physics. At the 1997 competition she won the $40,000 Intel Young Scientist Scholarship.

For her project, "Noninvasive Optical Method for Measuring Hemoglobin in a Fingertip," Mendelson developed a device that measures blood hemoglobin quickly and painlessly - and also eliminates the risk of infection currently associated with blood handling.

---

Generating a new hairdo
Yessenia Lazarit, a seventh grader at Worcester East Middle School, had a hair-raising experience with a Van de Graaff generator during Girls in Science Day at the Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science at WPI in March. Lazarit was one of 50 girls who participated in the program. Academy juniors helped make science come alive as they assisted teachers in hosting the girls in a series of workshops.

---

Mendelson, daughter of Yitzak Mendelson, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is fluent in English and Hebrew and plans a career in medicine. In March, her 1997 ISEF entry won second place in the Southern New England Region Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at Harvard Medical School.

---