Media Contact: Jean Yueh
Email: yueh@mail.gio.gov.tw

Tseng I-ching, a 16-year-old high school student from Taiwan, has won a major prize at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Her research project, entitled “A Styrofoam-decomposing bacterium from mealworms,” concerns a type of bacteria found in the digestive tracts of live mealworms. These bacteria, her project shows, help to break down polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam. Since Styrofoam is not biodegradable, how to dispose of it has been a problem that has challenged scientists and environmentalists for some time. Tseng’s groundbreaking project appears to provide the answer.

At the Intel science fair, held this year in Reno, Nevada in the United States May 10-15, Tseng won a total of five awards, including first place in the microbiology category. She received US$10,250 in scholarship money.

“The biggest reward I gained from the contest was that the Intel fair revealed a brand new horizon to me,” said Tseng during a telephone interview May 19. In the future, she will continue to investigate how bacteria from mealworms can be used more effectively in decomposing Styrofoam.

Tseng said that she became curious when she noticed that, after a while, Styrofoam cups containing mealworms become rough and uneven. She suspected the cups had been nibbled by the worms.

To test her “suspicions,” Tseng spent more than a year researching the worms, vivisecting more than 500 of them in the lab, before confirming that a certain type of bacteria living in their digestive tracts enables the mealworms to process Styrofoam.

The young researcher pointed out that her findings were repeatedly confirmed, but further study was needed to determine the conditions under which the bacteria could most effectively break down polystyrene foam.

According to Tseng’s mother, a junior high school teacher discovered her scientific talents. The teacher gave her books and magazines such as “The Way Life Works” to cultivate her interest in the life sciences. After entering National Taichung Girls’ Senior High School, Tseng spent more time in the lab than in the classroom, a practice which most of her teachers were willing to accommodate.

Tseng was the biggest winner on the 11-member Taiwan team at the 2009 Intel ISEF. At the fair, six other students from Taiwan also won awards and cash prizes ranging from US$200 to US$5,000. To further encourage these students, the Ministry of Education will offer them scholarships ranging from NT$50,000 (US$1,517) to NT$200,000, and grant them waivers to the nationwide university entrance exam.

According to the Intel ISEF Web site, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, now in its 59th year, is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. More than 1,500 high school students from over 50 countries participate in the fair each year. Students compete for nearly US$4 million in prizes and scholarships.