are now suing the competition’s foundation, saying it has refused to pay the teens $100,000 in promised scholarship money.

But it appears their win is now in question.

Matthew P. Fernandez and Akash Krishnan were featured in

as winners of the team division. The Oregonian, NPR and other national news organizations produced stories about the teens, then juniors at

. They developed a computer algorithm that identifies emotions in the human voice — and were elated to find themselves holding a giant ceremonial check for $100,000 at the Washington, D.C. competition.

Fernandez and Krishnan each filed lawsuits Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, claiming that the Siemens Foundation "is in breach of its contract." Each teen was to receive a $50,000 scholarship.

"The results ...are in dispute," wrote Siemens spokeswoman Camille Johnston, in an email. Johnston declined to comment further because of the pending litigation.

Jan Kitchel, a Portland attorney representing Fernandez and Krishnan, could not say what Siemens' spokeswoman meant by "in dispute." But Kitchel said his clients did not cheat. Kitchel said they earned the title of winners through their own hard work.

"We believe they won the competition fair and square," Kitchel said.

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The teens won various preliminary stages of the competition, before advancing to the premier event. It is one of the leading science competitions in the nation for high-school students. The suits state that the competition "was judged by an independent college board."

In addition to all of the national media attention, they even got to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Fernandez is now a freshman at Stanford University, and Krishnan is a freshman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their suits state they enrolled in the schools "in reliance on (the Siemens Foundation's) agreement to pay the scholarship," according to the suits.

The teens had been friends since the first grade at Oregon Episcopal School, according to a

titled “Next-Generation Scientists.” The friends were inspired to create a device that detects emotions in voices while watching the Will Smith blockbuster “I, Robot.” In one scene, a robot overhears Smith arguing with a character played by Bridget Moynahan, at which point the robot asks if everything is all right because the robot detects “elevated stress patterns” in Moynahan’s voice.

Fernandez and Krishnan hoped their invention one day would be worn like a wrist watch and help children with autism identity emotions in people who are speaking to them. The technology also could conceivably help call centers prioritize irate callers, placing them on hold for shorter wait times.

Krishnan was 16 and lived in Bethany at the time of the competition. His father, Krishnan Palaniswami, worked an electrical engineer and his mother, Anitha Krishnan, was a computer engineer.

Fernandez was 17 and lived in Portland. His mother, Linda Blakely, worked in marketing for IBM and his father, Louis Fernandez, was a retired software engineer.

According to the New York Times Magazine, Matthew Fernandez's parents didn't attend because his dad was fighting brain cancer. It was uncertain for a time whether Fernandez should travel to compete in the Washington, D.C. finals. He ultimately did, and he and his teammate were announced the winners on Dec. 6, 2010. Fernandez's dad died Jan. 2, 2011.

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