60th Annual STS (2000–2001)
Finalists
David Nejad Khalil

NEW YORK David Nejad Khalil, 17, of Great Neck, studied human brain functions for his medicine and health Intel Science Talent Search entry. David examined the neural events that are involved when a person perceives an ambiguous figure-a line drawing that can be perceived as two distinctly different images. He appears to have discovered a network of brain areas that are active during the alternative perceptual interpretations, and he has found evidence of cortical mapping with some areas associated with these perspectives. Two summers ago David helped adapt a $10 accelerometer to measure postural sway, the ability to balance, among elderly patients. Commercial monitors cost up to $100,000. The year before, he designed and built an alarm to protect sleepwalkers. At Great Neck North High School, David heads the debate and forensics team, the Hebrew Culture Club and the computer club. He writes for the school's political science and the foreign language magazines and is an editor of the yearbook. In his spare time, David is a computer consultant. The son of John and Manejeh Khalil, David hopes to study neurobiology at Harvard in preparation for a career in biomedical engineering.