The four-member Team U.S.A. was awarded gold medals at the International Biology Olympiad, surpassing student representatives from 48 other nations of the world. The Center for Excellence in Education announced that the U.S. team had the highest combined score out of all participating nations in the world's premier biology competition, held July 15 - 22 at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. Since the U.S. began competing internationally in 2003, every team member has won medals, bringing home 12 gold, six silver and two bronze trophies.
The U.S. gold-medal winners at the International Biology Olympiad 2007 are: Meng Xiao He of East Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, N.C.; Barry Liu of State College Area High School in State College, Penn.; Mark Shteyn of East Brunswick High School in East Brunswick, N. J.; and Helen Yang of Clarkstown South High School in New City, N.Y. Meng Xiao He, a rising freshman at Harvard University, received the top laboratory score, and the second-highest overall score in the competition, topped only by a student from Thailand.
"We are extremely proud of our U.S. students," said Joann DiGennaro, president of the Center for Excellence in Education, the McLean-based non-profit that sponsors the U.S.A. Biology Olympiad and nurtures young scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology. "The International Biology Olympiad brings out the best in our nation's students, and the Center for Excellence in Education is dedicated to helping them become our next generation of scientific leaders."
For more information about the Center and its programs, visit www.cee.org.