A San Diego teenager has won the Siemens Westinghouse Competition, a national contest in math and science. Sixteen year old Michael Viscardi will take home a $100,000 college scholarship. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has the story.
Michael won the top individual prize for his work on a 19th century mathematical problem called the Dirichlet problem. The homeschooled teen had to explain his work to 13 judges who are prominent in the fields of science and math.
Viscardi: "Oh, it was fine, no problem, it was actually really fun, I really like the presentation, because it's a chance to go up there and talk for twelve minutes for what I love to do."
But he did get a bit jumpy waiting to find out who won.
Viscardi: "It was very nerve racking as they counted down the numbers."
Michael hopes to use his $100,000 scholarship at Harvard, where he's already applied for early admission. He says he'll e-mail the admissions officers to let them know they need to update his application because of his recent win. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS news.
