Great Neck Hebrew HS has three semifinalists

Sarah Ditchek took 50 years of hurricane data, added in the previously unused factor of sea surface pressure, and found she could predict whether a hurricane would curve. The result, "Sea Surface Pressure: A Candidate Variable for Hurricane Tracking Prediction," created a new predictor of hurricane patterns and made her one of three Intel semifinalists from North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in Great Neck.

Interested in meteorology since she was 5, Ditchek hopes to either get a meteorology-related doctorate or go to law school. She has been accepted to Yale University.

In "Super Kahler-Ricci Flow," Joshua Pfeffer generalized a geometric flow equation to spaces known as super manifolds, part of string theory. String theory is a concept in physics that theorizes that subatomic particles are one-dimensional strings.

"I'm working in the context of the mathematics of string theory and trying to develop tools based on tools in ordinary mathematics," said Pfeffer, 17, who wants to pursue a career as a research mathematician.

Solomon Swartz studied post-lumpectomy options for women who often search for ways to maintain breast shape. Many methods have their own dangers, Swartz said. In his project, "Development of a Novel Thermoresponsive Hydrogel for Post-Lumptectomy Breast Reconstruction," he outlines a process that doesn't require surgery, only an injection of a liquid gel that then takes the shape and structure of the breast. It utilizes the radiation often accompanying lumpectomies to make the gel more permanent, he said.

Swartz, 18, has been accepted to Brown University's eight-year medical program.