Four Indian American high school students were selected among 24 from across the United States for the 2004-2005 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement (AP).

Each student will receive a $3,000 scholarship to the college of their choice, news reports said.

Shrenik Shah of Monta Vista High School, Cupertina, CA; Veena Venkatachalam of Governor Livingston High School, Berkeley Heights, NJ; Ryan Perumpail of Manalapan High School, Englishtown, NJ; and Kirtana Raja of St. John’s School, Houston, TX, were among the winners of the award which honors 24 students (two females and two males in each of the six College Board regions) who score the highest cumulative scores on eight exams in seven AP courses, it added.

These include biology, calculus BC, chemistry, computer science AB, environmental science, physics C: electricity and magnetism, physics C: mechanics, and statistics.

Shah, who has earlier qualified for the U.S.A. Mathematical Olympiad, U.S.A. Chemistry Olympiad and reached the semifinals of the U.S.A. Physics Olympiad and the U.S.A. Biology Olympiad, has been a member of the American Regions Math League (ARML).

President of Monta Vista Robotics and the Math and Science Club, Shah plans to study mathematics and computer sciences and pursue a career in research or teaching.

Venkatachalam, who participated in the International Research Science Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last year, has won several awards at the North Jersey Regional Science Bee, news reports said.

A two-time Biology Olympiad semifinalist and winner of several medals in the New Jersey Science Olympiad, Venkatachalam was named a candidate in the 2005 Presidential Scholars Program. She was quoted as saying that after obtaining her bachelors degree, she wants to pursue graduate studies in the cognitive sciences or join medical school.

Perumpail, 17, a senior at his school, is recipient of several individual as well as team awards, which include 2005 Manalapan High School Star Ledger Scholarship nomination, 2004 AP scholar with distinction and 2004 Merit Scholarship Award of the Federation of Kerala Associations of North America, reports added.

Serving as a treasurer of the Octagon Club at school, he also won instrumental (piano) music contest organized by the Kerala Association of New Jersey in 2002 and 2003.

Raja, a senior at her school, is a student researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine for the second year and has finished a nanotech research project at University of Texas at Dallas last summer as a Welch Summer Scholar, reports said.

Recipient of SAT Perfect Score Award 2004 and AP Distinguished Scholar Award 2004, she reached the semifinals of the 2004 Siemens Westinghouse Research Competition and 2005 Intel Science Talent Research Research Competition, reports added.

Raja is president of the Science and Math Club and JETS Club and chairperson of the Cosmic Ray Detector Club.

The AP Program is a signature program of the College Board which selects Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement winners from six U.S. regions: New England, Middle States, South, Midwest, Southwest and West, a press release issued by the Siemens Foundation said.

The annual awards, first given in 1998, also recognize teachers for their commitment to students and dedication to the AP Program, and high schools that show a notable increase in the number of students taking AP science and math exams. Each teacher and school receives a $1,000 cash award, the release added.

Thomas N. McCausland, chairman of the Siemens Foundation congratulated the student winners of the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement on their exceptional academic achievement.

“We also commend the teachers and schools who have worked so hard to enhance math and science education,” he was quoted as saying.

(Compiled from news dispatches)