PROFESSOR W. RICHARD MCCOMBIE

On August 10, 2005, an international team of scientists led by W. Richard McCombie - a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island announced that they had successfully deciphered the genetic code of rice.  This is no small achievement. Rice is a staple crop that feeds half the world's population. Moreover, this is the first time any crop plant has had its genome fully sequenced, which means that McCombie's team identified nearly all the 389 million chemical building blocks of its DNA.  "I would think this is going to help people find genes and enhance the crop in under 10 years", McCombie said.  The Professor is being modest when he says "enhance". Scientists worldwide have hailed this discovery as an enabler that will allow them to breed new varieties of rice that will boast a higher yield, improve nutritional content, and have better resistance to disease and pests. We are proud to feature Dr.McCombie as a keynote speaker at TechFest, and he will receive our first-ever "Forward Thinker" award, presented by Peter Goldsmith of ListNet.

DAVID BAUER

On March 15th, 2005, David Bauer took home the top prize in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search, and $100,000.  Bauer created a sensor that quickly detects exposure to toxic agents - such as nerve gas.  "I think of chemistry as cooking," he told Intel officials, "you have to add the right amounts in the right order."  Bauer likens his project to a battery powering up a light bulb.  Fluorescent nanocrystals known as quantum dots act like the battery while an enzyme found in neurotoxins functions as a dimmer switch.  "The neurotoxin flips the switch  and you can detect the light differences instantly.  The trick was designing that switch."  Bauer was raised by a single mother in Riverdale, and continues to remain in New York. He will speak Friday at 8PM and then mingle with his co-finalist friends and neighbors Saturday afternoon at 1:30.