Jared Lane K. Maeda of Wailuku, a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, has received a highly competitive federal research grant.

The grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will support Maeda's study, which seeks to increase the efficiency of the U.S. health-care system and improve the lives of those with heart failure.

Using data from the Joint Commission and Medicare, his dissertation will examine the relationship between hospital market competition, performance on standardized measures and mortality for heart failure.

Mililani High School senior Lucia Mocz won the third-place Grand Award of $1,000 in computer science at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nev.

She also won $1,000 and a trip to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland from the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Travis Le, a Punahou freshman, won $800 from the American Association of Physics Teachers for a project in physics/astronomy: “;Wasp 2-B Or Not Just 2-B: Does Wasp 2 Have More Than One Planet?”;

Mocz's project was entitled: “;Complex Evaluation of Danger and Tranquility in Urban Settings: An Immunocomputing Intelligence Approach.”;

Hawaii's delegation to the international fair included 22 students—15 girls and seven boys, age 14 to 18. They were top winners in science fairs on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island. They competed with 1,563 finalists from more than 50 countries at the international event.

”;Shining Stars”; runs Sunday.