Today, Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. congratulates constituent Yieu Chyan, 17, of Denton, in Washington, DC in honor of Yieu’s chemistry research project for the Intel Science Talent Search.

The Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS), America’s oldest and most highly regarded pre-college science competition, provides an incentive and an arena for U.S. high school seniors to complete an original research project and have it recognized by a national jury of highly regarded professional scientists. The projects are a result of inquiry-based learning methods designed to nurture critical reasoning skills, experience science through the use of the scientific method and to demonstrate how math and science skills are crucial to making sense of today's technological world and making the best decisions for tomorrow.

“Science opens up the world of tomorrow,” said Congressman Michael Burgess. “Yieu’s talents are needed to insure a brighter future for us all, and I am honored to be able to welcome him to Washington and congratulate him in person on this most significant achievement.”

Yieu Chyan researched ways to increase the solar energy conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic (PV) devices. His studies chemically combined semiconductor nanoparticles within a conductive organic polymer network and demonstrated a small, but unmistakable, photoresponse. This combination yielded a polymer film hybrid that may be more practical and cost efficient to manufacture than current silicon-based PV devices. Yieu plans to further optimize the morphology of his thin hybrid films, which may lead to a smoother and more uniform dispersiaon of particles and more robust films for solar energy conversion.

A student at Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science, Yieu is also an accomplished violinist and pianist, and he composed and conducted an award-winning piece for a Texas Music Teachers Association contest. He volunteers regularly as an attorney at the Denton Teen Court and participates in a 15 piano ensemble in the summer. The son of Dr. Oliver Chyan and Dr. Jin-Jian Chen, Yieu plans to attend MIT or Washington University at St. Louis and hopes to earn a doctorate in biochemistry.

The 40 Finalists of the Intel Science Talent Search 2007, who will be competing for $530,000 in scholarships, represent about 2.3 percent of those who completed entries in this scientific and educational competition. These 20 females and 20 males are awarded an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the Intel Science Talent Institute, March 8 -13, 2007.