The Leigh High School senior already has a string of awards under his belt, including the grand prize in the 2002 county science and engineering fair and the title 2002 Los Gatos Youth Citizen of the Year.

Kluesing is the student member on the Campbell Union High School District Board of Trustees, treasurer of the Leigh Key Club, a varsity athlete and a speech and debate club member.

On Jan. 29, Intel announced the names of the 40 finalists in its Intel Science Talent Search. Kluesing, 17, is one of 300 semifinalists vying for the spots. One winner will be chosen from those 40 students in May.

While finalists will compete for more than $500,000 in scholarships, semifinalists have also received financial awards. Intel has given Kluesing $1,000 and donated the same amount to Leigh High School for its math and science programs.

To make it to the semifinalist stage, Kluesing submitted a project that he had been working on since he was in 10th grade. The project, impressively titled "Non-deterministic Polynomial Time Complete Calculations Using Synthetic Bubble Emulation," is a computer program that simulates soap bubbles to solve math problems.

"I came up with the idea that some of the properties of soap bubbles could be applied to path-finding abilities," Kluesing explains. Kluesing says the project is "by no means complete," but when he submitted it to Intel in November, it was finished enough for a competition.

Intel chose to notify the semifinalists of their selection in an unusual fashion on Jan. 15. "They came to my first-period class with balloons and a fake check—like a Publisher's Clearinghouse check," Kluesing says, chuckling. "It was definitely a surprise."

Kluesing and his family moved to California when he was in 10th grade, and the student has been "hangin' around and doing incredible science" ever since, says Leigh science teacher Lewis Smith.

According to Smith, Kluesing took the grand prize in physical science and first place for his technical paper at the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship last year, in addition to earning a fellowship at Hewlett-Packard over the summer and co-authoring a paper that was presented in Washington, D.C.

"I was rather proud and amazed to see that he was listed as a second author," Smith said. "He is extraordinary."

Kluesing says he doesn't yet know where he's going to college in the fall but expects to end up in science or engineering.

"I really like the whole technical innovation-type thing," Kluesing says. Through his attendance at various national and international science fairs, Kluesing says he has also "met a lot of interesting people and met a lot of Nobel Prize winners."

Smith says he has the same expectation of Kluesing's future. "I see him going to a high-level university, majoring in engineering and/or computer science and making a career of it," Smith says. "He takes very naturally to problems of engineering. He tackles problems that are unique and comes up with unique situations."