Knoxville student receives Siemens Award

KNOXVILLE -- Chenran Liu, a Knoxville resident and a senior at Farragut High School, was named the Tennessee state female winner of the 2011 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation administered by the College Board.

Chenran earned top scores in AP science and math courses to earn a $2,000 college scholarship and recognition as America's top achievers. To date she has taken 13 AP courses and now, she is just one of the 101 high school recipients who are leading "…the nation in performance on Advanced Placement math and science courses," said Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, President of the Siemens Foundation.

Chenran's favorite AP class is chemistry. Her notable accomplishments include National Merit Commended (2011); AP Scholar with Distinction (2011); and Science Bowl (third place at state, 2011). She plans to study biochemistry and chemical engineering in college and wants to become a patent lawyer or work in pharmaceuticals. Her hobbies include Health Occupation Students of America, Model United Nations, and cooking. She states that her interest in science and math came from being from a family of chemists who shaped her interest in those fields.

Established in 1998, the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement (www.siemens-foundation.org) award $2,000 college scholarships to students from each of the 50 states who have earned the greatest number of scores of 5 on exams in the following AP® courses: Biology, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Computer Science A, Environmental Science, Statistics, Physics C Mechanics and Physics C Electricity and Magnetism. Each state potentially has two winners, one male and one female. Two additional national winners (one male, one female) are awarded a $5,000 college scholarship.

Published February 27, 2012