Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation

2009 Life Sciences Awards

2009 Life Sciences Biology Student Award

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are honored to have awarded the achievements of the 2009 $5,000 Life Sciences Biology Student Award Columbus Scholar:

Henry Zheng

Senior
Centennial High School
Elliot City, Maryland

Henry Zheng is a senior at Centennial High School of Howard County, Maryland. Since elementary school, he has enjoyed science and math. In high school, he developed a keen interest in applied mathematics for biological engineering, specifically with the functioning of artificial limbs and its integration with the human nervous system.

Since his sophomore year in high school, Henry has been an intern at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) under the supervision of Dr. Jeffery Lesho of the Biomedical Engineering Group, doing background research in the areas of brain computer interface (BCI) and prosthetics control, writing a survey paper, and making presentations. As a junior, Henry applied for the Intern/Mentor Program, which only accepts the most advanced and dedicated students.

While at APL, he worked on his computational neuroscience project that improves the performance of arm prosthesis. His research has garnered recognition at many competitions. He also published and presented his research results at the international FUSION 2008 conference in Cologne, Germany.

Henry entered his research in the Howard County Math, Science and Technology Fair and received a top award. He was a regional finalist in 2008-2009 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology as well as a semifinalist in Intel Science Talent Search.

The day before Henry received the Life Sciences Biology Student Award in Washington, he was presented with the American Academy of Neurology Foundation�s Neuroscience Prize in Seattle, Washington. This year Henry�s extraordinary work is being recognized from coast to coast.

Beyond his interest in science, Henry is also an accomplished classical pianist and has been recognized for his dedication to community service as a 2009 Coca-Cola Scholar.

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation is honored to have had the assistance of the following distinguished individuals serving on the 2009 Life Sciences Awards Evaluation Committee:

Prof. Dr. Vittorio Daniore
Scientific Attach�
Embassy of Italy
Washington, D.C.
Jonathan S. Fish, M.D.
Dr. Venigalla Rao
Department of Biology
The Catholic University of America
Samana Zulu, M.D.