ICS’s Iyer named finalist for USA Biology Olympiad

May 10, 2017 9:30 am

Kartik Iyer from the International Community School in Kirkland was selected as one of 20 high school students to participate in the 15th Annual USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) National Finals.

Iyer and the other students will meet May 28 to June 9 in metro Washington, D.C. to participate in 10 days of intensive biology instruction — including high-level laboratory training and concepts. These activities will be followed by two days of testing to determine the USABO’s Dream Team: the four students who will represent Team USA at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) from July 23-30 in Coventry, United Kingdom.

“CEE is proud to work with Marymount University to train the USABO National Finalists in practical and theoretical biology,” said Joann DiGennaro, president of the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE), in a press release. “These students are some of the highest-achieving biology students from this country and it is exciting to prepare them for the international competition in the United Kingdom.”

Nearly 10,000 students from across the country registered for the USABO, according to Kathy Frame, CEE director of USABO and Special Projects. The twenty finalists—representing nine states—were selected based on their scores from the USABO open and semifinal exams.

“The mission of the USABO is to encourage excellence in biology education throughout the United States and to challenge students and their teachers to reach the gold standard in biology,” Frame said in the release. “USABO finalists will each work diligently to become the best in the U.S. and to continue the United States’ success at the IBO this July.”

The IBO is an annual event where students from all over the world compete on their knowledge of biology. The participants are pre-university students, ages 14 to 19. To take part, students must place in the top four of the National Biology Olympiad in their individual countries.

This is the second year that Marymount University will host the USABO finals with CEE in Arlington, Va.

While at Marymount, USABO finalists will participate in intensive theoretical and practical tutorials, and will study with leading U.S. biologists who are experts in the fields of cellular and molecular biology, plant anatomy and physiology, animal anatomy and physiology, genetics and evolution, ecology, ethology, and biosystematics.