59th Annual STS (1999–2000)
Finalists
Elizabeth Keiko Williams

CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Keiko Williams, 17, of Palos Verdes Estates, has won a place among the finalists in the annual Intel Science Talent Search for her behavioral and social sciences project entry. First in a class of 708 at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates, and with perfect SATs, she has won numerous academic honors. In addition to mathematics, she has distinguished herself in a variety of scientific endeavors including archaeology, and by her violin performances which resulted in an invitation to tour Austria and Italy in 2001. Her project for the Intel competition is in yet another area of her wide-ranging interests: cognitive neuroscience. She looked at how the brain perceives combinations of light and shape called 'simultaneous contrast,' a classic effect much studied by perceptual psychologists. In contrast to earlier studies, Elizabeth's ten psychophysical experiments showed that neurons are more broadly tuned to visual stimuli and showed how they can be better analyzed. Elizabeth plans to attend Harvard and pursue a career in neuroscience or mathematics. She is the daughter of John and Leila Williams.