Three ORHS students have taken the grand prize in the Siemens Math, Science and Technology competition in New York today.

Breaking news at the Oak Ridger says:

The three ORHS students are Scott Molony, Steven Arcangeli and Scott Horton.

In their winning team project, “Linking Supercomputing and Systems Biology for Efficient Bioethanol Production,” the students contribute to a growing body of research on creating microrganisms that can produce alternative fuels, according to a Siemens news release.

“This team used supercomputers to analyze biological networks, looking at tens of thousands of genes and their biological pathways to discover clues for engineering direct biofuel production by microorganisms,” said competition judge Gary Benson, an associate professor in the departments of computer science, biology and director of graduate studies program in bioinformatics at Boston University. “Through a real team effort and a sophisticated, interdisciplinary approach, they developed a promising method that takes us a step closer to engineering biofuel.”

Based partly on the team’s work, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory received a major grant to continue this research. The team’s mentors were Nagiza Samatova, Chris Symons, Byung-Hoony Park, and Tatiana Karpinets, all with ORNL.

There may be an appearance on Good Morning America tomorrow. Congratulations to Scott, Steven, and Scott, along with Benita Albert, who continues to hone some of the most brilliant young minds in America — if not the world.

Update: WATE has a better picture.