USABO Scores 4 Gold
United States Scores Big at International Biology Olympiad
McLean, Va., July 21, 2008 – The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) announced today the four member Team USA took home four gold medals at the International Biology Olympiad held in Mumbai, India. Fifty-five nations competed in this prestigious competition. For the second year in a row, the U.S. team garnered world recognition.
The U.S. gold medal winners at IBO 2008 are:
- Jonathan Gootenberg, Montgomery Blair High School, Rockville, MD
- David Huang, Charter School of Wilmington, Hockessin, DE
- Seungsoo Kim, Mountain View High School, Vancouver, WA
- Jonathan Liang, Thomas S. Wootton High School, North Potomac, MD
CEE is pleased to declare that every U.S. team member has medaled in the international competition since 2003, bringing home sixteen gold, six silver and two bronze medals.
“I am particularly excited about Team USA and its success in winning four gold medals,” said Joann DiGennaro, President of the Center for Excellence in Education. The McLean, Va. based nonprofit organization sponsors the U.S.A. Biology Olympiad and nurtures young scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. “This was the youngest group of U.S. biology students to be sent to the International Biology Olympiad. Their achievement was even more thrilling because top U.S. academic achievers have not demonstrated appreciable acceleration for several years, as reported in the testing results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). I am so very proud of these fine students.”
Sponsors of the U.S.A. Biology Olympiad include Amgen, Inc., Applied Biosystems Group, Beckman Coulter, Biogen Idec Foundation, Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, Continental Airlines, Genentech, Gilead, Pearson Benjamin Cummings, Philips Medical Supplies, Psychemedics Corporation, Sprint, Texas Instruments, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vanguard Research, Inc., and Ward’s Natural Science.
The Center for Excellence in Education was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H.G. Rickover and Joann P. DiGennaro, President of the Center. The Center's mission is to nurture young scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and to encourage collaboration among leaders in the global community. CEE sponsors the Research Science Institute (RSI) and the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO). For more information about the Center and its programs, visit CEE’s Web site, www.cee.org.