61st Annual STS (2001–2002)
Finalists
Jessie Cheng

NEW YORK
Jessie Cheng, 17, of Armonk compared the effectiveness of dictating into automatic speech recognition (ASR) software and writing by hand (using pen and paper) for her Intel Science Talent Search project in behavioral and social sciences. She concluded that writing by hand more effectively conveys ideas (fluidity, formality of tone, complexity of sentence structure, and level of vocabulary), but that the quality of content did not significantly differ between the two modes. She also found that participants' acceptance of ASR was significantly affected by their level of familiarity with ASR as well as their expectations and attitudes toward other composition tools. At Byram Hills High School, Jessie is co-founder and co-president of the Asian culture club, called Tea House. In addition, she is captain of the B-team (which competes in interscholastic Jeopardy-like tournaments), contributes to the school newspaper and tutors fellow students in math, English and writing. Jessie is also an accomplished flautist and pianist. The daughter of Dr. K. C. and W. Faye Cheng, she plans to study applied mathematics and economics at Princeton to become a college professor.