Teen Wins $100,000 Science Scholarship

A 17-year-old girl won a scholarship worth $100,000 for building an inexpensive yet accurate spectrograph that identifies the "fingerprints" of different molecules.

Mary Masterman was named the winner Tuesday of the annual Intel Science Talent Search.

More than 1,700 high school seniors across the United States entered the contest, which is in its 66th year. Among the former winners are six Nobel Laureates, three National Medal of Science winners, 10 MacArthur Foundation Fellows and two Fields Medalists.

Spectrographs, which measure wave lengths, can be used as a sensing device to look for explosives or drugs or to help determine how old an artwork is through its pigments.

They can cost as much as $100,000, but Masterman's invention — made of lenses, a laser, aluminum tubing and a camera — cost less than $1,000, Intel said.

Masterman received the honor from Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett on Tuesday.

"It was a complete surprise," Masterman said. "I wasn't expecting it."

The 40 finalists exhibited their projects at the National Institute of Science and met government officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

"You're not only dealing with the top young person in the science field in the country in Mary, but you're dealing with 40 finalists who are doing breaking-edge research in total," said Brenda Musilli, Intel's director of education.