61st Annual STS (2001–2002)
Finalists
Marc Anthony Burrell

WISCONSIN
Marc Anthony Burrell, 18, of Glendale, entered the Intel Science Talent Search with a project in environmental science. His research addresses the worldwide problem of heavy metal contamination in soils. As an alternative to the current solution of massive excavation at contaminated sites, Marc explored a new approach that is cost effective and, more importantly to him, environmentally safe. This is phytoextraction, the use of plants for removing metal contamination from soils. In his project, Marc experimented with strains of wheat for extracting lead. He believes that understanding soil and biochemical interactions involved with lead tolerance eventually will lead to the bioengineering of superplants, capable of accumulating between 20 and 30 percent lead in their dry biomass. Besides science, Marc has two other "loves" -- athletics and jazz. He's on both the varsity basketball and football teams at Nicolet High School and plays saxophone in the jazz band. The son of Dr. Daniel and Jenice Burrell, Marc hopes to attend Harvard to become a biomedical scientist, and is particularly interested in working on genetic disorders and other biochemical abnormalities.