59th Annual STS (1999–2000)
Finalists
Lizhou Wang

HAWAII
Lizhou Wang, 15, of Honolulu entered the Intel Science Talent Search competition with her innovative process for developing gas sensors. Her research uncovered a way to graft ultra-thin polymers onto a surface of gold. Such a process could produce sensors with higher selectivity, versatility and minimal response time in sensing volatile organic compounds such as breath, fuel and toxins. The work she accomplished on the chemistry project in only eight weeks would have been "outstanding even for a graduate student" her science advisor said. Lisa, as she is called, began her project while participating in a science student honors program at Michigan State University. She is the youngest among the 40 finalists in the Intel search. A student at Iolani School, she has earned 28 academic honors. Lisa, who was born in the People's Republic of China, speaks Chinese and Japanese. She is active in the science, mathematics, computer and engineering clubs and is on the staff of the literary magazine. She hopes to attend Harvard, Caltech, MIT or Stanford and pursue a career as a professor of physics. Her mother is Dr. Xiaolei Dai. Her father, Leiming Wang, lives in China.