Keenan Monks, 17, of Hazleton, studied elliptic curves over finite fields of prime characteristic p, a prime integer, for his mathematics project submitted to the Intel Science Talent Search, a program of Society for Science & the Public. Such curves are used widely in cryptography, and are given by certain polynomials in two variables. The points on these curves have the algebraic structure of a group. A supersingular curve is one where this group has no points of order p; supersingular curves give rise to codes which are easily cracked. Keenan gives a criterion for locating the supersingular members of two infinite families of elliptic curves, hence showing which ones to avoid in encryption work. Keenan attends Hazleton Area High School, where he is captain of the cross country and track and field teams. During his last four summers he enjoyed hiking the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Keenan, an avid pianist for 12 years, is the winner of several piano competitions, has performed at Carnegie Hall, and enjoys sequencing music in his spare time. He has also volunteered with the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup for the past seven years, helping remove trash from community roadways. The son of Kenneth and Gina Monks, Keenan coauthored a paper published in Discrete Mathematics.

Tags: education, Intel Inspire, Intel Science Talent Search, Keenan Monks, Society for Science & the Public

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