Hamilton High School junior Rachel Ginn received fourth place and $1,000 at the Sanofi-Aventis International BioGENEius Challenge in Boston, Mass. for her research on extracting hydrogen from crops and wastewater.

The yearly competition allows U.S. and Canadian high school students to illustrate their understanding of biotechnology through science projects, with cash prizes awarded to the best projects.

Ginn started her research as a freshman, when she became interested in using ethanol as a biofuel supplement to reduce consumption of petroleum and air pollution.

"All we hear about is the war over oil, and rising gas prices, and I wanted to find a solution," Ginn told the Arizona Republic. "There could be a car on the market in a few years, and we could have hydrogen fueling stations in Phoenix."

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For more information:

"Chandler student in national biotech contest," Arizona Republic, 05/07/2007

"Hamilton teen takes 4th in national biotech challenge," Arizona Republic, 05/07/2007

Biotechnology Institute press release, 05/07//2007