Lipi Gupta earns $40,000 scholarship at Intel's science expo

By Alex Paul

Gazette-Times reporter

Lipi Gupta, a 16-year-old Crescent Valley High School sophomore, earned a $40,000 scholarship to Lewis & Clark College in Portland for her first-place project at the Intel Northwest Science Expo, held April 3 at Portland State University.

She also qualified for the international contest to be held May 10-15 in Reno, Nev. More than 1,500 high school students from more than 50 countries will compete for some $4 million in scholarships and awards.

Gupta's project, "The Effect of Forest Fires on Tree Growth," looks at ramifications of two fires in Central Oregon, the 23,000-acre Eyerley fire in 2002 and the 90,000-acre B&B Complex fire in 2003. Both were in the Metolius River drainage.

In addition to the Intel Foundation, other expo sponsors included Vernier Software & Technology, the Edward & Romell Ackley Foundation, the Portland State University Center for Science Education and Genentech.

"I started working on this project in September," Lipi said. "There were some pretty surprising results."

Lipi said she looked at three main tree species: Douglas fir, grand fir and ponderosa pine.

"I looked at two fire severity levels, and at both levels ponderosa pine and Douglas fir were expected to do very well," Lipi said. "Douglas fir actually increased its growth after the fires, and ponderosa pine had decreased growth rates. Grand fir was neutral."

Lipi said she was excited by the win, considering there were 16 projects in her category.

"I was surprised," Lipi said. "It was really tough competition. There was a four-hour judging period, and I talked to nine judges for about 15 minutes each. They would look at our posters beforehand and then come up and ask us to tell them about the project."

At the Central Western Oregon Science Expo held Feb. 28 at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Lipi's project earned her a $2,500-per-year renewable scholarship to Oregon State University. Fourteen Crescent Valley students placed in the top one-third of projects at the event.

Lipi said that, as a sophomore, she hasn't determined which college she plans to attend, but she does plan to study science.

"At this point, I'd like to become a science teacher," Lipi said. "I don't think I want to be a researcher, but I know I want to be in the science field."

At Crescent Valley, Lipi is the public relations captain for the robotics team, co-captain of the JV tennis team and a member of the leadership class. She has been chosen to attend the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Conference in late May at Willamette University in Salem.

She is the daughter of Mukta and Rakesh Gupta of Corvallis.

Lipi will enter the same project in the international contest, although she may tweak her information poster a bit, she said.

Several other projects by Crescent Valley students placed at the state event.

"The Industrial Feasibility of SAM Coating to Improve Solar Energy Conversion Efficiency," by Charlie Nairn and Tony Wu, won third place in engineering materials and bioengineering.

"The Comparison of High Density and Linear Low Density Polyethylene for Landfill Liners," by Zak Derocher, Akshay Subramanian and Patrick Yun, received third place in environmental analysis and effects.

"Experimental Study of Estradiol Contamination in Various Water Sources," by Betsy Geller, Vesta Namiranian and Laura Ornes, took honorable mention in the biochemistry category.

Alex Paul can be contacted at alex.paul@lee.net or by calling 758-9526.