Alexandra Courtis, a senior at Davis Senior High School, won $5,000, a laptop computer and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., as a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search.

Courtis completed her project during afternoons as a volunteer in the lab of chemistry professor Susan Kauzlarich. Courtis' project, "Bright Luminescent Silicon Nanoparticles for Biological Applications," involved creating nanoparticles or "quantum dots" of metals such as silicon, germanium and gold that could be used to identify tumors.

As one of 40 Intel finalists, Courtis will have the opportunity to display her research at the National Academy of Sciences.

Kauzlarich, one of the more than 200 UC Davis scientists at work on cancer, focuses on exploring new materials with novel chemical structures and properties.