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Kennedy senior named Intel Science Talent Search finalist

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Kennedy High School senior Samuel Epstein devoted more than a thousand hours of research to his submission for the Intel Science Talent Search. This week his hard work paid off when he was named one of 40 finalists in the national contest, considered among the country's most prestigious high school science competitions.

Epstein’s adviser, Advanced Placement biology teacher Barbi Frank, said he “models what a true scientist at Kennedy High School is.”

As a finalist, Epstein wins an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., where he will present his findings along with the other 39 other finalists from March 5 to 11.

Finalists are vying for three Medal of Distinction awards worth $150,000 each. There will also be three $75,000 second-place awards and three $35,000 third-place awards. The nonprofit Society for Science & the Public administers the competition.

Epstein’s research project delved into the microscopic world. He looked at the TOR (target of rapmycin) pathway, the cellular path found in all living organisms, from yeast to fruit flies to mammals, which senses nutrients as they are ingested by an organism. Some TOR pathways are more sensitive than others, according to Epstein.

Epstein said he wanted to see whether microbes introduced in the TOR pathway, from pathogens to probiotics, would affect appetite in fruit flies. They did.

Epstein also found that reduced food consumption correlated with longer life in the flies. “The less you eat, the longer you’ll live,” he said. “No one is 100 percent sure [why].”


Epstein is a National Merit commended student and Advanced Placement Scholar with Honor. He founded his own charitable organization, Make an Impact!, which raises funds to send Israel Defense Forces veterans to college, and he was director of the Kennedy Trivia Challenge, which serves as a fundraiser for the United Cerebral Palsy Association, and manager of the Kennedy Health and Career Fair. And he is president of the Science Olympiad club, co-president of the Protein Modeling Model Challenge team and a member of the math club.

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