NASA names high school competition winners

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has selected the winners of its high school supersonic research competition.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration competition required students to write a documented research paper describing what needs to be accomplished to make supersonic flight available to commercial passengers by 2020.

The top score was earned by Edric San-Miguel, a junior from the Norfolk Technical Center in Norfolk, Va. Sidharth Krishnan, a senior from the Anglo-Chinese Junior College in Singapore, won top honors in the non-U.S. category.

More than 120 teenagers from eight states and 11 other nations submitted 60 entries in four categories: U.S. individual, U.S. team, non-U.S. individual and non-U.S. team.

NASA said a junior and senior from Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Calif., led the American teams, while three ninth-graders from the National High School of Computer Science in Bucharest, Romania, won the top prize for non-U.S. teams.

NASA will award the top scoring papers from the U.S. a cash prize of $1,000 for the individual award winner and $1,500 for the team. Non-U.S. students will receive an engraved trophy, but are not eligible for cash prizes. All participants will receive a NASA certificate.

A list of winners is available at http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/competition_winners.htm.