Classical H.S. senior places 2nd in national STEM competition

JOSEPH ZURIER, a Classical High School senior, placed second this month in the 2014 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, a national research competition for high school students. He is shown with his project,
JOSEPH ZURIER, a Classical High School senior, placed second this month in the 2014 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, a national research competition for high school students. He is shown with his project, "Generalizations of the Joints Problem." / COURTESY SIEMENS COMPETITION

PROVIDENCE – Classical High School senior Joseph Zurier placed second in the 2014 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, a national research competition for high school students.
Zurier won a $50,000 college scholarship for his project, “Generalizations of the Joints Problem,” which involved determining the maximum number of joints that can be created with a given number of lines.
“One of Joseph’s main outcomes was to show that, in a mathematically precise sense, a certain number of lines cannot create too many joints. This will have implications for digital image processing both in general computer science and medical imaging,” a press release from Siemens stated.
His project was one of only six individual projects from across the country to compete in the national finals in Washington, D.C., this month.
In October, Zurier was the only student from Rhode Island and one of 30 to reach the regional competition held at Georgia Institute of Technology. As the regional winner, Zurier advanced to the national finals at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and also won a $3,000 scholarship.
Zurier plays varsity tennis and is on the Classical High School math team, where he has placed first in the state each year since he was a freshman. He has applied to Harvard University as an early action candidate and plans to major either in mathematics, applied mathematics or computer science.
The Siemens Foundation supports educational initiatives in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the United States. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Siemens competition. More than 4,000 students registered for this year’s competition and submitted a total of 1,784 projects for consideration, which is a 12 percent increase over the number of projects submitted last year.

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