SSP president Maya Ajmera said: "They and the rest of the top winners of Intel STS (Science Talent Search) 2016 are using science and technology to help address the problems they see in the world and will be at the forefront of creating the solutions we need for the future."

The prizes were given in three categories: Basic research, innovation and global good. All the Indian winners were in the research and innovation categories. Meena Jagadeesan of Naperville, Illinois, won the Second Place Medal of Distinction for basic research for her work in mathematics. Meena investigated an object in algebraic combinatorics, or the mathematics of counting, to reveal a novel relationship between classes of graphs. For his study of random nanowire networks as a less costly alternative to the transparent conductors now used in touchscreen devices, Milind Jagota won the Second Place Medal of Distinction for Innovation. He is from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The two third place winners were Kunal Shroff and Kavya Ravichandran.

Shroff of Great Falls, Virginia, discovered new relationships between the key protein associated with Huntington's disease and the biological processes of cellular death that cause Huntington's symptoms. His work may lead to new treatments, SSP said.

Ravichandran studied the use of nanomedicine to destroy potentially fatal blood clots that can cause heart attacks and strokes. She is from Westlake, Ohio. Fourteen Indian diaspora students were among the 40 students chosen to be finalists from among 1,750 students who entered the contest. The finals were held in Washington. Among the Indian students' projects, eight related to the field of medicine, and three to mathematics, with one combining mathematics and cancer research.

This is the 75th year of the Science Talent Search competition, whose alumni have gone on to win 12 Nobel prizes, two Fields Medals, 11 National Medals of Science, 18 MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowships. One of the MacArthur fellows is computer scientist Maneesh Agrawala, a 1990 Science Talent Search finalist.