2007-08 National First-Place Winners
First-Place Winners
$50,000 Scholarship
Katie Everett
Huron High School
Ann Arbor, Michigan
A Sexual-Network-Based Model Evaluating the Impact of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination on Infection Prevalence in an Adolescent Population
"From my experience at the YES Competition, I'll remember the passion that each student showed for his or her project and its implications for improving public health. High schoolers are not too young to start solving public health problems!"
Katie recognized that the results of a 2004 sociology study on adolescent sexual networks could significantly change our understanding of how the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine reduces new HPV infections in adolescents. Katie taught herself computer programming and her project features an innovative mathematical model.
The model utilizes the findings from the 2004 study to test the effects of different levels of vaccination in adolescent girls or boys to prevent the spread of HPV. She found that the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine to prevent infections among adolescents was significantly greater than the previous research, based on adult sexual networks, had shown.
Katie is captain of her varsity swim team, plays the piano, and studies world languages. She has applied for a summer internship at the National Institutes of Health and plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Harvard University this fall. After college, she intends to pursue a career in epidemiology research.
Jessica Palmer
Ossining High School
Ossining, New York
Examining Repetitive Behaviors in Parents and Siblings of Individuals with Autism
"What truly inspired me to pursue autism research were the autistic children I volunteer with. I work with special needs children in the local community and they really are a joy to be around. Their behavior is fascinating and spending time with them has provided invaluable insight into my research."
Jessica found that restricted and repetitive behavior is one of the defining features of autism, however most research has focused on the socialization and communication aspects of the disorder. This is one of the first studies to examine the presence of repetitive behaviors in siblings and parents of autistic children. She studied more than 140 relatives of autistic children and compared them to 90 relatives of normally developing children over a two-year period.
Jessica's results found that nonautistic siblings of children with autism are more likely to display repetitive behaviors and a preference for routine. This could prove beneficial if used to improve support groups of families with autistic children.
About her experience at the YES Competition, Jessica says she enjoyed the fact that, "There was so much encouragement and camaraderie in the midst of an incredible, intellectually stimulating environment." Jessica is president of the local National Honor Society and is on the varsity field hockey and indoor track teams. She plans to attend Cornell University this fall. Although she has not yet identified a specific field of study, seeing the many ways epidemiology can help people makes a career in public health a real possibility.