Shaker High School senior, Arun Puttachi, placed second in the world in the health and medicine subgroup for his groundbreaking project focusing on cancer cell research and cell senescence at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in New Mexico.

“He’s the most driven young man I’ve ever seen,” said Shaker High School Science Research Teacher Nate Covert. “He was actually a great teacher for me. He was a pleasure to have in class.”

Puttachi originally won first place at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Science Fair back in March, which automatically allowed him to advance to the Intel fair in mid-May.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the most prestigious pre-college fair, with approximately 1,500 of the most talented science students from 51 countries competing for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize: a $50,000 college scholarship.

The fair is categorized based on content of research, with a number of subgroups. Puttachi won second place in the world for his project titled “Paracrine Effects of Senescence-Upregulated p21 Induced Stromal Fibroblasts on Transformed Fibroblast Line C8” in the subgroup of health and medicine. He received a $1,500 prize for his subgroup, an $8,000 tuition scholarship from the Office of Naval Research on behalf of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and had an asteroid named after him.

“Arun has worked so hard for this and he deserves it,” said Shaker High School Science Department Supervisor Keith Bogert. “I am so proud of him.”