Senior Michael Constantinides has received a $20,000 scholarship as a national finalist in the Siemens-Westinghouse Competition in Mathematics, Science, and Technology, held in December in Washington, D.C.
Constantinides studied nickel-related compounds in a project titled "The Synthesis of Nickel (I) Silyls and Their Corresponding Nickel (II) Silyn Cations." He succeeded in preparing the first silyl derivatives of nickel and characterized one of his compounds by crystallography, a process that determines a compound's molecular structure by studying the pattern of x-ray diffraction off its crystallized compound. His study yields fundamental insights into the unique and unusual bonding properties of these new types of compound.
"It's very rare to find a student of Michael's age who could complete such a technically difficult and sophisticated scientific experiment," said judge Paul Helquist, professor of chemistry at the University of Notre Dame. "Because of the very sensitive nature of the compounds that he synthesized, this research was done in an environment isolated from oxygen or other reactive materials."
At U-High, Constantinides is a member of the Mathematics Team and vice president and building coordinator of the Science Team. He is also co-founder of the Solar Car Team, which has built a remote-controlled one-fifth scale solar car. He performed his research for the Siemens-Westinghouse competition under the supervision of Gregory Hillhouse, Professor of Chemistry, and Rory Waterman, a researcher, both at the University of Chicago.