Former astronaut John Blaha welcomes 2008 DuPont Challenge© Science Essay Competition winners at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Florida. (left to right)  Thomas Hounsell, Jr. Division Winner Claire Yang of Hockessin, Del., Sr. Division Winner Nicole Clark of Boise, Idaho, and her teacher-mentor, Erin Tiderman.

A possible aquatic cure for psoriasis inspired by an episode of the ABC-TV show Ugly Betty and how a technology called transgenic pharming has enabled the commercialization of spider silk are the winners of the 2008 DuPont Challenge© Science Essay Competition.

Claire Yang, an eighth grade student at H.B. du Pont Middle School, Hockessin, Del., was the Junior Division winner, writing on “An Aquatic Cure for Psoriasis.”  Nicole Clark, a sophomore at Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho, won the Senior Division with an essay on “Spider Silk: The World’s Strongest Fiber.” 

Yang represents a milestone in the 22-year history of the program.  She is the first student of a DuPont employee to win the coveted DuPont Challenge© first prize.  Her mother is Jianzhen Zhang, a laboratory scientist at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del.  Her father is a research scientist for Hercules in Wilmington.

More than 10,000 students entered the contest from all 50 U.S. states and Canada.  The 700-1,000 word essays were judged by 25 National Science Teacher Association (NSTA)-selected teachers, scientists from NASA and DuPont.

For more information on the competition and the complete list of winners, visit: www.thechallenge.dupont.com.