Danville teen wins Intel Science Talent Search SCIENCE

Evan Michael O'Dorney (center), 17, of Venture School in San Ramon celebrates his first place win at the Intel Science Talent Search Monday, March 15, 2011 in Washington, D.C. At right is Intel CEO Paul S. Otellini. less Evan Michael O'Dorney (center), 17, of Venture School in San Ramon celebrates his first place win at the Intel Science Talent Search Monday, March 15, 2011 in Washington, D.C. At right is Intel CEO Paul S. ... more Photo: Robin Barrett, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Robin Barrett, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Danville teen wins Intel Science Talent Search 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

For the first time in 70 years, the local kid won.

Danville teen Evan O'Dorney took first place Tuesday night in the nation's most prestigious science competition, an honor that comes with a $100,000 prize and congratulations from the president.

He is the first Bay Area student to win what is considered the high school equivalent of a Nobel Prize and the sixth from California since the contest started in 1942. He appears to be the first homeschooled winner as well, according to organizers.

Evan, 17, beat out 39 other Intel Science Talent Search finalists from across the country with a mathematics entry summarized as "Continued Fraction Convergents and Linear fractional transformations."

In more simple terms, the teen found the answer to a previously unsolved theoretical math problem that involved approximating the square root of a non-square integer.

He did with a few algebraic symbols what no one had ever done, a remarkable accomplishment, especially because he was only 16 when he solved it.

The money is nice, Evan said, but it's the recognition of his work that means the most.

"It means I've demonstrated that I'm passionate about math and I can convey that to the world," he said shortly after he won.

And hearing his name announced on stage even exceeded the experience of meeting President Obama with the other finalists earlier in the day.

20-page summary

The contest requires high school seniors to submit an application with a 20-page summary of their math or science project. This year, 1,744 applicants from 499 high schools applied, and the top 40 flew to Washington for this week's competition.

Each year, judges look for high school seniors who exhibit "exceptional research skills, a commitment to academics and to their communities, innovative thinking, and promise as a scientist," according to contest materials.

Since 1942, seven finalists have gone on to win a Nobel Prize. Two have won the prestigious Fields Medal for math and 11 were awarded a $500,000 MacArthur genius grant.

Aside from Evan, 10 California finalists competed this year, with six from the Bay Area, records for both the state and region.

Fair Oaks (Sacramento County) finalist Selena Li and San Diego finalist Xiaoyu Cao finished among the top 10.

The competition was fierce among all the finalists, including Oregon's Yushi Wang, whose project was described as "Applications of Quantum Ternary Algorithms and Oracles."

From New Jersey, Wenyu Cao submitted a project summarized as "On the Second Eigenvalue and Expansion of Bipartite Regular Graphs."

Picking a winner is never easy, said the contest's head judge Dr. Andrew Yeager, professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. The student's project is taken into account, as is an interview that covers such topics as biomedicine, physics, ecology and engineering.

"We want to hear how people think through things in areas they may not be quite as conversant," Yeager said. Evan "was batting them out of the park."

While the Intel win puts Evan within an elite academic circle, it isn't his first dance in the national limelight.

Spelling Bee win

In 2007, he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which earned him a $10,000 oversized check and a trip to the White House to meet President George W. Bush.

In August, he won a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad, which was followed by a congratulatory phone call from Obama.

On Tuesday, before the Intel winners were announced, Evan took another trip to the White House, where he and the other finalists met Obama.

For anyone counting, that's three conversations with a U.S. president and two presidential handshakes - all by age 17.

He's expected to hit the morning television circuit in New York Wednesday.

That might mean he'll miss a math class he takes at UC Berkeley Thursday afternoon, mother Jennifer O'Dorney said.

"I'm going to go to it and take notes for him," she said, laughing.

Math is that big of a deal to him.

Evan's ultimate goal is to earn a doctorate in math and become a professor.

In the fall, he plans to attend Harvard University, where he will probably solve more confounding math conundrums and never need spell-check. In the meantime, he won't be buying a flashy car with his $100,000 Intel prize to get to and from Massachusetts. Most of the money will cover the costs of his education, filling in for financial aid.

Yet to be sure, when that train leaves Boston, he will have no problem solving for X.