Katheryn Cheng Shi
Texas
Katheryn Cheng Shi, 16, from Sugar Land, used computational chemistry to predict
the existence of rare-gas compounds in her Intel Science Talent Search project
in chemistry. Rare-gas molecules are used in lasers for eye surgery,
semiconductor manufacturing and to create anti-tumor agents. Katheryn analyzed
more than 80 hypothetical molecules using several quantum mechanical methods and
identified two new stable rare-gas compounds, HArN and HKrN. She hopes to
collaborate with synthetic chemists to synthesize these molecules. Katheryn is
the first author of a paper submitted to Chemical Physics Letters. At Texas
Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, she founded a math tutoring
program for middle school students and has been the winner of numerous academic
awards. She volunteers at a pet shelter and provides therapeutic horseback
riding for persons with disabilities. As a 12-year-old, Katheryn earned a black
belt in TaeKwonDo and reads Chinese and Spanish fluently. She enjoys swimming,
ice skating and playing clarinet. The daughter of Hongxiao Shi and Han Cheng,
Katheryn hopes to attend MIT or Harvard and study computational biology and
chemistry.
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