TAMS Student Wins Siemens Competition ($100K scholarship)
Press release here. The other top award, the team competition, was won by two guys from NCSSM (one of the boarding school cousins of TAMS).
I have to admit, I was a little suspicious when I heard on NPR this morning that the Siemens competition was "won by Wen Chyan from Denton, Tx." Yep, TAMS strikes again ( Read more... )
I have to admit, I was a little suspicious when I heard on NPR this morning that the Siemens competition was "won by Wen Chyan from Denton, Tx." Yep, TAMS strikes again ( Read more... )
Then when the kid's math professor started to talk and we had the "Whatever that means!" I was really offended. Either let the guy talk or don't air the clip; there's no need to be a douche about it. I guess I thought it was not just disrespectful to the professor, but doubly so for the kid, since the guy in the previous breath was saying how he didn't even really understand RJ's work. And wasn't this story really about how lonely and isolating intellectual gifts can be? Do you think that might possibly have anything to do with everyone throwing their hands in the air with a "Whatever that means!" whenever the kid starts to talk? The reporter missed the whole fucking point of his own story.
As for Wen, I've had the pleasure of TA'ing him, and unlike some people I can't say I'm surprised at all. ;)
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My PhD program actually has a huge component that's focused on helping us practice explaining what we do in terms that other scientists can understand. Even bringing the stats to a level where an average psychologist gets it is hard.
RJ has very clearly not had that practice, but good science journalists can usually overcome that. Mr. Sanchez blew it. He did a patronizing story on the whiz kid, not the cool problem he solved.
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