WAILUKU >> A Maui High School senior who has won numerous honors in science and spelling has been selected as a nationwide science finalist in a contest described by some as the "Junior Nobel Prize." Maui senior to attend
D.C. science contestBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comMatthew Jachowski will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the final phase of the 62nd annual Science Talent Search competition, March 6 to 11.
"I was just amazed," he said. "I know it's pretty prestigious to be selected."
A number of finalists in the competition during the past six decades have gone on to make major scientific discoveries and received international awards, including five Nobel Prizes.
Jachowski, 17, the only student selected from Hawaii, will receive at least $5,000 in college scholarships from being a finalist along with 39 other pre-college students in the competition sponsored by Intel.
The top scholarship prizes, including one for $100,000, are to be announced at the banquet March 11.
His selection was primarily based upon his research paper "On Initial Orbit Determination Accuracy," which investigates two methods for estimating the initial orbit of an asteroid.
He compared the accuracy of the two methods and developed a theory as to why there were deviations.
"His work suggests the possibility of developing error-correction techniques for both methods," according to a summary of his research by the search organization.
Jachowski said the idea came to him while he was attending a summer science program in Ojai, Calif.
He noticed there were deviations obtained through using two methods to calculate orbits and wondered what caused them.
"I did research and found no one else had done a paper on it," he said.
In 1999, Jachowski won the state Spelling Bee while attending Kalama Intermediate School.
Jachowski and brother Nicholas were on the Maui High School team that took first place in the State Science Bowl last year.
Jachowski was captain of the team, which will be competing in the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., May 1 to 5.
Jachowski, son of Doug and Dr. Maile Jachowski, of Pukalani, has been accepted at Stanford University and plans to study physics to prepare for a career in research.
National Science Bowl