Bay Shore semifinalist a hard worker, dedicated student

Bay Shore High School senior Deborah Boktor is too humble to say much more than she is honored to be an Intel semifinalist, the first at her school in eight years. But principal Robert Pashkin heaped on the praise, calling Boktor a hard worker and dedicated student.

"This is certainly a tremendous feather in our caps, but it also speaks so highly of Deborah's work ethic," Pashkin said.

Boktor's project is titled "Electrospinning PVA: The Effects of Solution Conditions and Voltage on the Morphology and Fiber Diameter." It involved finding the optimal conditions to have the smallest nano fibers used by microfiltration membranes for water purification. This could save steps in the purification process, making it much more cost-efficient, Boktor said.

Boktor, 17, said she wants to be a general surgeon and hopes to attend either Brown University or New York University.