60th Annual STS (2000–2001)
Finalists
Michael Richard Areen

CALIFORNIA
Michael Richard Areen, 18, of Sacramento, submitted a mathematics project on graph theory to the Intel Science Talent Search. A graph consists of a set of points (vertices), some of which are connected by edges. In a directed graph the connections go in only one way. Mike considered "unilaterally oriented" graphs, ones in which it is possible to travel between any two points along the edges, but in only one direction. In particular, he looked for the smallest possible configurations of points and vertices which can be extended in only one way to unilateral graphs. For graphs with a large number of edges, he determined the size of these small configurations. Mike is first in his class of 295 at Mira Loma High School where he holds varsity letters in golf and soccer and serves as a soccer coach and referee. For his school's Science Olympiad, he designed and built a device to harness electricity from a chemical reaction-it won first prize and went on to win the silver medal in the National Science Olympiad. The son of Dr. Richard and Beverly Areen, Mike hopes to study math at Stanford. He relishes discrete mathematics, which he says "exists primarily because people like me love to think about things."