For reaching finalist status in the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS), Joshua Choe ’16 and his nominating teacher Mark Adame now have two minor planets named for them. Right now, somewhere in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, are the minor planets “32213 Joshuachoe” and “32379 Markadame.” Both planets were discovered by MIT’s Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Laboratory. The naming honor came as a surprise to Joshua and the thirty-nine other Intel STS finalists who attended a special black-tie gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. last month.
“To think that there is an object in the middle of the asteroid belt named after me is absolutely surreal,” Joshua said. “The Director of the Lincoln Laboratory launched into a presentation on minor planets after the dinner and at the end he suddenly announced there would be minor planets named after all of us!”
At the dinner, Joshua met several prominent scientific leaders, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, famed astrophysicist and the keynote speaker; Mike Mayberry, the Managing Director of Intel Labs; and the Director and Deputy Director of the National Institute of Health. Joshua even got to pitch his cancer research project to NIH Director Francis Collins.
The Intel STS reviewed research projects from more than 1,750 entrants before naming 300 semifinalists and ultimately 40 finalists. Joshua’s research project is titled Identification and Characterization of GLUT1 as a Potential Diagnostic Biomarker and Therapeutic Target for Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma. This research may contribute to early diagnosis of and novel treatments for lung cancer.
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
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