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San Diego teen wins Siemens' top prize By Tracey Wong Briggs, USA TODAY A San Diego-area teen who used scavenged parts to invent a gyroscopic generator that turns ocean waves into electricity won the top $100,000 individual scholarship Monday in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Working in his garage for more than a year, Aaron Goldin, a senior at San Dieguito High in Encinitas, used parts from a reel-to-reel tape recorder, an answering machine and computer printer to create his environmentally friendly "Gyro-Gen." Goldin, 17, spun off the idea from an ocean wave-powered vehicle, a theorical problem pondered by engineers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where he volunteered. In using a gyroscope's motion resistance to work against a wave, he realized it might be possible to use it to generate power. "I had no idea I'd end up here," Goldin said Monday, still in a daze. "You just don't expect to be the one. That was an amazing surprise. I almost cried when I found out." Yueqi "Lucie" Gao and Xianlin Li, both 17, of Durham. N.C., won the top team honors for their genetics breast cancer research. The seniors at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics split a $100,000 scholarship. The national honors were announced at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., The sixth annual high school science research competition awarded $624,000 in scholarships at the national and six regional events. Other national winners: Individuals Po-Ling Loh, James Madison Memorial High, Madison, Wis., $50,000, math. Samir Zaidi, Hackley School, Tarrytown, N.Y., $40,000, osteoporosis research. Kevin Claytor, Los Alamos (N.M.) High, $30,000, laser technology. Bhaskar Mookerji, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, $20,000, zinc chemistry. Morgan MacLeod, Greely High, Cumberland, Maine, $10,000, astronomy. Teams Jessica Fields, Jericho (N.Y.) High, and Taylor Bernheim, Ramaz Upper School, New York, N.Y., $50,000, tissue engineering. Steven Frehn and Andrew Deagon, Highland High, Palmdale, Calif., $40,000, mechanical engineering. Yisrael Herzberg and Yonatan Schwab, Rambam Mesivta High, Lawrence, N.Y., $30,000, nanoparticle studies. Allyson Ho, William P. Clements High, Sugar Land, Texas, and Alex Thachara, Wheatley School, Old Westbury, N.Y., $20,000, polymer film technology. Nicole Pranke, Perpich Center for Arts Education, Golden Valley, Minn., and Ashley Fry, Half Hollow Hills High East, Dix Hills, N.Y., $10,000, biostatistics for drug dosage analysis.