Richland High senior wins cash prize

A Richland High School senior who has won a number of science awards has received another, earning money for herself and her school.

Swetha Shutthanandan was recently named a semi-finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search competition. The competition, promoted by the organization Society for Science & Public Health, honors high school seniors for their scientific research. About 1,800 students enter the competition every year.

As one of 300 semi-finalists, Swetha received $1,000 and another $1,000 will go to Richland High. She now waits to see if she will be one of 40 finalists invited to Washington, D.C., later this year.

Swetha won top prizes at regional and state science fairs and competitions in 2013 for her work looking at alternative materials for solar cell construction.

She won a gold medal in 2014 at the GENIUS International Olympiad in New York for her supercapacitor project. Last fall she was one of three Washington state students invited to be part of the American Junior Academy of Sciences. Her research into supercapacitors earned her a $50,000 college scholarship in September 2015.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Richland High senior wins cash prize."