Amy Chyao, a junior at Plano East Senior High School, traveled to the White House in Washington, D.C. Oct. 18, where she joined seven fellow science-fair winners from across the nation in presenting their research to President Barack Obama, who praised Amy and her peers for representing the next generation of science innovators. The trip was sponsored by the Society for Science and the Public. 

 

Amy’s research to develop a photosensitizer for photo dynamic therapy (PDT), an emerging cancer treatment that uses light energy to activate a drug that kills cancer, earned her a $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award, awarded for the first time in 2010 in honor of the Intel co-founder and retired chairman and CEO. Her research earned first place at the world’s largest pre-college science competition, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, this year.

 

Amy was among a select group of young scientists who presented their award-winning research findings to the president this week. 

 

Obama asked Amy whether she had connected with scientists “who might be really inspired by these ideas and might move it along.”

 

Amy said that, since winning the Intel competition, her adviser is “talking with a lot of people who are actually implementing” the therapy. For some tests, she will begin working with the biology department at the University of Texas at Dallas.

 

Obama commented at a White House event held later about Amy's research. 

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