Li, now 17 and a 2003 graduate of Monta Vista High, sits in his living room in Cupertino, showing off his bronze medal, his trophy and the congratulatory letter he got from President George W. Bush. He is one of four high school students chosen from 4,000 students to represent the U.S. in the International Biology Olympiad in Minsk, Belarus, in mid-July.

"It is one of my greatest achievements in high school," Li says, who probably has many more to come. In his junior year in high school, Li did a project on bacterial communication and also founded a biotechnology club. His ambitions are noble, too. "As a kid when you watch movies like Jurassic Park , you imagine the possibilities and how it can help humanity," Li says.

This competition was a new experience not only for Li and his teammates, but also for the U.S.

Li and his three team members were selected through rigorous testing and training at the Center for Excellence in Education, which is based in Vienna, VA., and is the organizer of the U.S.A. Biology Olympiad.

Suraiya Farukhi, vice president for public affairs at the center, says that to participate in the IBO, the U.S. had to establish the U.S.A. Biology Olympiad and select students through a four-tier competition. Those who qualified as the 20 national finalists, including Li, attended a training session at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. There they competed for a position on the four-person U.S. team.

During his week-long stay in Belarus, Li says he went through two tests—one practical and one theoretical—spread over two days.

"It was very tough and had a lot of time pressure," Li says.

He says the practical test was held in a laboratory and lasted four hours. The participants dissected crayfish, did biochemical tests and solved genetic problems using statistical methods. The theoretical test was as long as the practical test and consisted of multiple-choice and free-response questions on all branches of biology.

Participants' cumulative scores from both the practical and theoretical tests were used to rank them. The top 60 percent in the ranking received medals. Those in the top 10 percent got gold medals; those in the next 20 percent got silver; and the following 30 percent got bronze, Farukhi says.

And now Li will enter Stanford University this fall and major in biology. But the teenage prodigy has already been working in a Stanford University lab doing research in immunology and hopes to publish a research paper soon.

"We are studying how the body's immune system fights off external forces such as bacteria and viruses."

An only child, Li keeps himself occupied by playing the piano. He likes Frisbee, cycling and swimming and reads a lot of science philosophy. His father, John Li, is a senior scientist at a technology firm in Palo Alto, and his mother, Belle Chang-Li, works for the Santa Clara Family Health Plan. As immigrants who both moved from Shanghai, Li's proud parents think he wouldn't have had the same opportunity in China.

"America is the land of opportunities, where there is no ceiling or restriction," Chang-Li says. "I really appreciate this system."

Joann DiGennaro, president of the center, has high hopes for the four-member IBO team, including Li.

"I envision that these four members will become leaders in their respective fields and make significant contributions to biology," she says.