Bonnie Rae Lei, 18, of Walnut, combined DNA and anatomical analysis of sea slugs for her animal science project which she submitted to the Intel Science Talent Search, a program of Society for Science & the Public. 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. Bonnie founded a chapter of Namlo to sponsor a sister school in rural Nepal and co-founded the Writers’ Guild and literary journal, for which she is editor-in-chief at Walnut High School. 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.

Tags: Bonnie Rae Lei, education, Intel Inspire, Intel Science Talent Search Finalists, Society for Science & the Public

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.