Girls Win Big at Google Science Fair

July 14, 2011— -- Three teenage girls from across the U.S. took home the top honors at Google's Global Science Fair, each for their research in health-related fields.

Shree Bose, a high school junior from Fort Worth, Texas, won the grand prize and also won for the 17-18 age group. Her research was meant to find a way to improve treatment for patients suffering from ovarian cancer that have become resistant to cancer drugs. She did all of her research at the University of North Texas Science Center with a mentor.

She received a $50,000 scholarship for her work, a trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer and an internship at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. She also won access to Scientific American's digital archives for her school for one year.

Naomi Shah was chosen as the winner in the 15-16 age group. Her project found that improving indoor air quality can help decrease asthmatics' dependency on medications.

Lauren Hodge tested different marinades to see how they would affect a potentially harmful carcinogen that has been found in grilled chicken. She won for the 13-14 age group.

Shah and Hodge both won a $25,000 scholarship from Google and internships at Google and LEGO, along with subscriptions to Scientific American's digital archives for their schools.

Google received more than 7,500 entries from more than 10,000 applicants in more than 90 countries.