Tech senior named Intel semi-finalist
Studied the
ability of children with autism to discriminate between textures
sight unseen
Staten Island Advance - January 25, 2005
In a school that prides itself on academic competition and
achievement, especially in the sciences and engineering, Nina Kim of
Staten Island Technical High School is a stand-out.
Miss Kim recently learned that she has been named one of the
semi-finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search (ISTS),
and is the only semi-finalist from a borough high school in the 2004
competition.
Often considered the "junior Nobel Prize," the ISTS is America's
oldest, most highly-regarded pre-college science competition. Over
the last 60-some years, Science Search alumni have been the
recipients of more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and
math honors, including the Nobel Prize, the National Medal of
Science and the McArthur Foundation Scholarships.
The honor has already earned Miss Kim, a senior, a $1,000 prize,
plus another $1,000 for her school, and a chance to go to Washington
and compete for college scholarships totaling more than $500,000.
But science isn't the only arena in which this young lady shines.
She is a talented artist whose work has been exhibited at the
Brooklyn Museum of Art, and she is the founder and president of the
art club at Tech. She is awaiting college acceptances from Columbia,
Yale, and New York University, and plans to major in psychology and
specialize in neuroscience and behavior.
Miss Kim expects to hear this week whether she'll be going to
Washington as one of 40 finalists nationwide.
The soft-spoken, modest 17-year-old from New Springville, was
singled out for a research project titled "Assessment of Stimulus
Overselectivity in Children with Autism Using Tactile Stimuli."
In layman's terms, Miss Kim studied the behavior of a group of
Staten Island children with autism and their reactions when they
were asked to identify and respond to objects of different shapes
and textures.
Her project is actually the culmination of more than a year of
research and work with autistic children.
"I did a lot of reading about autism and last summer I was fortunate
to be able to work with autistic children at the Eden II Institute,"
she explained.
Her investigation began when she e-mailed more than four-dozen
science and psychology professors at NewYork-area colleges and
universities, asking whether they would be willing to serve as her
mentor. College of Staten Island Professor Dr. Bertram Ploog
responded to her request with an offer to meet and discuss her
interests. She credits Dr. Ploog for helping her become interested
in autism and children with autism. Through his mentorship, she was
able to work with children at Eden II.
During the school year, she pursued her research under the guidance
of teacher Carmen Irizzary, assistant principal of science at Tech.
With the consent of administrators at Eden II, Miss Kim asked a
group of autistic children ages 4 to 10 to identify and
differentiate shapes of a moon and star -- some made from cardboard
and others from terrycloth -- by feeling for them unseen, with their
hand in a box. She also asked a "control group" of children who were
not autistic, to do the same thing. The group of autistic children
were less likely to differentiate the shapes and textures
immediately.
She said she hopes her research will be of interest in the study of
applied behavioral research methods and the teaching of autistic
children.
"It's a small study, a small step," Miss Kim said of her project.
"But then all research starts out small. Hopefully this will be
something to build on and take further."
Miss Kim said she hopes to present her research paper at the Applied
Behavioral Analysis Convention in Chicago in May.
Still, given the impressive research projects completed by all of
the 300 Intel semi-finalists, Miss Kim said she would be surprised
if she is named as one of the finalists. "I've been looking at some
of the topics submitted by other semi-finalists, and mine is just
small potatoes," she said self-effacingly.
In our book, she's already a winner.
By Diane Lore
Reprinted here with permission from the
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