Erika DeBenedictis – Albuquerque Academy, Albuquerque, NM

Project: Traveling the Interplanetary Superhighway: An Autonomous Spacecraft Navigation System

Interplanetary Superhighway is a concept asserting that the gravity and movement of planets create “easy transit routes” throughout the solar system, called low-energy orbits. Erika, 17, developed a software navigation system to help spacecraft better navigate these paths. Using low-energy paths to transport heavy materials to another planet would greatly reduce fuel needs, which is important for manned missions where for every pound of fuel saved you have an extra pound of oxygen or water. Erika credits her father, a scientist at the Sandia National Laboratories, as her most influential person.

Nick Christensen – Wetumpka High School, AL

Project: Do You ear What I ear?: Lowering Voice Frequencies in REAL TIME to Revolutionize Hearing Assistance Technology

As a hearing impaired student, Nick, 18, decided to focus his research on improving hearing assistance devices. As a result, Nick has developed a real time algorithm that could be used to not only improve the performance of hearing devices, but also other forms of electronic communication, including cell phones, radios and TVs.

Tags: Intel, Intel STS 2010 Finalists, Math, Science

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