The Last of the 2008 Siemens Competition Regional Winners Announced at the California Institute of Technology. Will Compete for $100,000 at National Finals

Eric K. Larson, of Eugene, Oregon, Wins Top Individual Prize

Aanand A. Patel and William Hong, of Fullerton, California, Win Top Team Prize

PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Research projects in Mathematics and Molecular Biology won top marks this evening for Eric K. Larson and the team of Aanand A. Patel and William Hong in the Region One Finals of the 2008 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the nation's premier high school science competition.

The Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, is administered by the College Board. Tonight's winners will receive thousands of dollars in college scholarships and be invited to compete at the National Finals in New York City, where the winners of six regional competitions across the United States will vie for scholarships ranging from $10,000 to the top prize of $100,000.

'These students have competed with some of the greatest young minds in our country, and are now on an amazing journey to the finals for the most coveted high school science prize in the nation,' said James Whaley, President of the Siemens Foundation, based in Iselin, New Jersey. 'The fact that we've experienced a record-setting year, including a 10 percent increase in both team and individual project submissions and more than a 16 percent increase in the number of registrations, makes their achievement even more commendable. We congratulate them on their hard work and look forward to welcoming them to the national event.'

The students presented their research this weekend to a panel of distinguished judges from the California Institute of Technology, host of the Siemens Competition Region One Finals.

Individual Winner

Eric K. Larson, a senior at South Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon, won the individual category and a $3,000 college scholarship for his mathematics research that classifies certain types of fusion categories. These are a recently discovered type of algebraic structure with applications to various areas of Theoretical Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics, such as String Theory, Quantum Computation, and Knot Theory. Fusion categories are a far reaching generalization of groups, which are the algebraic structure traditionally used in mathematics to model symmetries. The project was aptly named The Classification of Certain Fusion Categories.

'The main result of this project identifies and completely classifies a new class of fusion categories which, for the first time, contains non group-theoretic examples,' said Dr. Matilde Marcolli, Professor of Mathematics, Division of Physics, Math and Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. 'What really impressed the judging panel was that the depth of Mr. Larson's project and his understanding of the field are on par with advanced graduate research, or even with that of a professional mathematician.'

Mr. Larson has always enjoyed math as his favorite subject, and it is the same field he would like to continue for his undergraduate degree and beyond. He is an avid piano player, a four-time winner of the Oregon Junior Bach Festival and has been invited to perform in master classes sponsored by the Eugene Symphony. His various honors in Math include a silver medal at the 48th International Mathematical Olympiad and a gold medal at the USA Mathematical Olympiad.

Mr. Larson's middle school math teacher, Marna Knoer, provided accelerated courses in high-school level Mathematics and extracurricular Mathematics. His participation in these classes resulted in his qualification to attend the Math Olympiad Summer Program since eighth grade -- a key occurrence that cemented his interest in math. Mr.