Her name is Alyssa Chan, and this 13-year-old from Olivenhain seems to know her stuff.

An eighth-grader at The Rhoades School in Encinitas, Alyssa will be one of 40 middle school students and the only one from San Diego County to compete in the final round of a national science fair sponsored by the Discovery Channel.

The finalists were chosen to attend the competition, which starts tomorrow in Washington, D.C., from an initial pool of 7,000 regional science fair winners…

Alyssa’s project seeks to push back the frontiers of understanding of one of today’s most vexing health issues for older Americans – Alzheimer’s, a debilitating brain disease that affects 4.5 million Americans. The cause and cure remain mysteries…

The Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge officially starts tomorrow at the Smithsonian Institution. After a series of challenges, the competition concludes Wednesday with presentation of “America’s Top Young Scientist,” which comes with a $20,000 scholarship…

Alyssa believes science is infectious.

“I think a lot of times I make a lot of other kids excited about science,” she said. “I can explain things to them, and this competition is about finding a good science communicator.”

Interest in science runs in her family. Her 16-year-old sister, Rebecca, competed in the challenge three years ago and both her mother and her father, Ming Fai Chan, are chemists. Alyssa began watching videos of brain functions as a young child and hopes to pursue a career in neuroscience or neurosurgery…

Source: San Diego Union Tribune, United States
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20071020-9999-1mi20science.html