Senior competes in Intel finals

Over the week of March 10, senior Kevin Garbe traveled with 39 other students from all over the nation to Washington, D.C., the final competition in the Intel Science Talent Search.

Despite not receiving one of the top 10 awards, he returned home with $7,500 for being among the 40 finalists. 

“The experience was incredible,” Garbe said. “Although technically it was a competition, it was much more of an internal competition. [For example,] can you do the best you can in describing your research and answering the questions from the judges? As a result, it was actually a highly cooperative and fun environment among the finalists.”

Finalists were judged over three days in two parts. In the first part, three judges asked students questions about problem-solving. In the second part, finalists summarized and presented their research projects and answered judges’ questions specific to their research. 

Garbe was also able to meet and shake hands with President Barack Obama and spend time with the other finalists. 

“I really enjoyed meeting the other new finalists and making new friends as we were going through this experience,” Garbe said. 

When he and the other finalists were not competing, they presented their research at a public session on March 10, went sightseeing and attended dinners with guest speakers. 

Garbe’s project was named “Patterns in the Coefficients of Powers of Polynomials over a Finite Field” and combined number theory, combinatorics, polynomials and matrix algebra. Garbe proved several theorems that improve the understanding of fractals, mathematical sets.

“The research is relevant to a range of practical uses since fractals have been used in diverse applications such as cryptography, seismology and even weather forecasting,” Garbe said.

He said the hardest part of his research was the “large amount of exploration” that needed to be done within time constraints. 

Yet all the work paid off as he was announced among 300 Intel semifinalists in early January, then a finalist later the same month.

For other students aspiring to do research or even participate in the Intel competition next year, Garbe said, “Learn all you can about a topic that you are really curious about and explore it from all different angles.”