Photo Courtesy of Millburn Township Public Schools

Millburn High School senior Alexander Lin, a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search for 2015, stands with Millburn's science research teacher Paul Gilmore.

Millburn High School senior Alexander Lin was named as one of 40 national finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search 2015, a program of the Society for Science and the Public. Lin is one of four students from New Jersey to attain finalist status this year.

Finalists receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. from March 5 to 11, where they will undergo final judging, display their work to the public, meet with notable scientists, and compete for just over $1 million in awards, including the three top awards of $150,000 each.

These finalists were chosen from the select pool of 300 high school seniors named semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search 2015 on Jan. 7, and more than 1,800 entrants based on the originality and creativity of their scientific research, as well as their achievement and leadership both inside and outside the classroom.

As one of this year's 300 semifinalists Lin and Millburn High School were awarded $1,000 each.

This year's finalist projects are distributed among 17 categories, including animal sciences, behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, bioengineering, bioinformatics and genomics, chemistry, computer science, earth and planetary science, engineering, environmental science, materials science, mathematics, medicine and health, microbiology, physics, plant science, and space science.

Lin's project is titled, "Approximating the Maximum k-Colorable Subgraph Problem on Dotted Interval Graphs." He was named a semifinalist in the 2014 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology this past December.

Lin's research has been done under the auspices of Millburn High School's science research course, a 3-year program that begins in the sophomore year and offers students an opportunity to perform scientific research and participate in the community of science research.

After identifying a research topic, and obtaining a mentor at an outside university or research lab, students must write a 20-page scientific paper The course is taught by science research teachers Paul Gilmore and Gina Cocchiaro. Lin and Gilmore will be recognized at the Monday, Feb. 9 Board of Education meeting.

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Student is finalist in nat'l science contest