59th Annual STS (1999–2000)
Finalists
Viviana Ioana Risca

NEW YORK
Viviana Ioana Risca, 17, of Port Washington, submitted a computer science project to the Intel Science Talent Search. Using DNA as the medium, she studied steganography, a data encryption technique that embeds secret messages within large amounts of seemingly innocent information. For her molecular computing project, Viviana encrypted the message "JUNE6_INVASION: NORMANDY," inserted it in the gene sequence of a DNA strand, and flanked it by two secret "primers" in a DNA molecule. Then she combined the molecule with many other similar molecules. The hidden message could be retrieved only by someone knowing the two secret primer sequences-the keys to the code. Because each primer can have 4²⁰ different possible sequences, she concludes that the code is essentially unbreakable. First in her class of 292 at Paul D. Schreiber High School, Viviana serves as managing editor of the literary magazine and has won numerous science and writing awards. A native of Romania and a published poet, she enjoys computer programming, painting, badminton and writing sonnets. She is the daughter of Mihai and Mihaela Risca and hopes to attend MIT.