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Siemens Competition: Texas State Professors Mentor Award Winning Research

San Marcos, TX – October 20, 2014

Professor Shuying Sun of the Mathematics Department, with the help of Professor Ziliang Zong of the Computer, has mentored research leading to the identification of novel biomarkers for early breast cancer detection. The work of their student mentees has advanced to the regional level of the Siemens Competition, a prestigious nation-wide research contest for high school students.  Professor Sun worked with a team of three students during the summer months as part of the 2014 Mathworks Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) program.  Their research is titled, “Identifying DNA Methlyation Variation Patterns for Breast Cancer Biomarker Genes.”  The students used statistical analysis to compare DNA methylation levels in normal and breast cancer cell lines.  The students – Lily Xu (Austin), Brandon Alston (Houston), and Simantini Mitra-Behura (Houston) – will now compete in the Regional Level of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. The Competition received more than 1,700 projects this year across the individual and team categories, and only 30 team projects are chosen as regional finalists.  The team will now compete at the MIT site of the regional competition the weekend of November 14th.

A separate Mathworks team was recognized as semifinalists in the Competition.  The team included students Wilbur Li (Houston), Eric Gao (Houston), and YingYan Ho (Dallas).  They worked under the mentorship of researcher Matt Gately of Silicon Labs.  Their project involved the mathematical modeling of 3D displays, and is titled, "Improvements In 3D Volumetric Displays."

Click here for more about the Siemens Competition, which is organized by Discovery Education.