Bonnie Rae Lei
California
Walnut High School
Bonnie Rae Lei, 18, of Walnut, combined DNA and anatomical analysis of sea slugs
for her Intel Science Talent Search animal sciences project. Bonnie studied two
different tropical sea slug species and found that they were genetically
indistinct. She also found that a Bahamas population of these sea slugs was
genetically distinct enough to be a separate species, and has proposed a new
taxonomic name for it. Her analysis indicated that the populations diverged some
five million years ago, when a sea channel closed, partially isolating the
Bahamas area from the Atlantic Ocean. Her work may provide crucial insight into
the biodiversity of this genus. At Walnut High School, Bonnie co-founded the
Writers Guild and literary journal, for which she is editor-in-chief. She also
founded a chapter of Namlo, an organization assisting people in developing
countries, to sponsor a sister school in rural Nepal. She is also first in her
class of 703. She has received a grant to study bats and endangered otters in
Brazil and was one of two U.S. representatives at the first World Youth Climate
Conference in Mexico. Her research has been published in two paleontology
journals and online by the American Museum of Natural History. Bonnie, who has
perfect SATs, is the daughter of John and Jenny Lei.
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