An Indian-American teenager has earned the prestigious 'Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award' for his exceptional work to develop a low-cost electronically-aided knee brace, which help a person to walk more naturally with a weakened leg.  

The Intel Corporation and the Society for Science and the Public (SSP) have given the $50,000 award to Syamantak Payra and 17-year-old Kathy Liu at the 2016 'Intel International Science and Engineering Fair' in Arizona.

Maya Ajmera, SSP president and chief executive, said that, "Our top winners this year, Syamantak and Kathy, clearly demonstrate that age has no bearing on your ability to conduct research and come up with solutions to important problems."

"We congratulate them not only for their success, but on their dedication and hard work. They and the rest of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) finalists are the rising stars of STEM and we look forward to watching them pursue their passions and in turn make the world a better place for future generations," Ajmera said.

Rosalind Hudnell, Intel Foundation president and Intel Corporation vice president of human resources and director of corporate affairs said in a statement, that, "Intel congratulates this year's winners and hopes that their work will inspire other young innovators to apply their curiosity and ingenuity to today's global challenges."  

On the other hand, five Indian Americans also reached in the 22 "Best of Category" winners and  received a $5,000 prize each. These winners included Marissa Sumathipala (Virginia) in the Cellular and Molecular Biology,  Rajeev Jha (Hawaii) in the Behavioral and Social Sciences category, Tiasha Joardar (Texas) in the Energy: Physical category, Prashant Godishala (Minnesota) in the Translational Medical Science and Swetha Revanur (California) in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.

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Nandini