The influenza virus has made many people sick, but it's nearly made 17 year-old high school student, Eric Chen, rich, the Fort Mill Times reported.

Chen, from San Diego, won first place ($100,000) at the Intel Science Talent Search Competition for researching new drugs designed to fight dangerous strains of the influenza virus. A combination of computer modeling and structural analysis provided the groundwork for treatment that inhibits the enzyme endonuclease, responsible for the spread of viruses.

Winner of the Google Science Fair contest for the same topic earlier in the school year (good for $50,000 and a trip to the Galapagos Islands with National Geographic) and the Sieman's Competition ($100,000), Chen's interdisciplinary approach and use of technology was a common theme among the top ten finalists. Runner-up Kevin Lee ($75,000), also from California, used a mathematical model to simulate the beat of a heart. Third place finisher William Henry Kuszmaul ($50,000), 17, of Lexington, Mass expanded on a mathematical formula with applications to a variety of fields, according to the Fort Mill Times.

"Society for Science & the Public proudly joins Intel in congratulating Eric Chen for his impressive research toward potential new drugs for influenza," said Rick Bates, interim CEO and chief advancement officer of SSP, which has run the contest since 1942. "By linking technology and science to the problems of the world they see around them, Eric and all the Intel Science Talent Search finalists are tomorrow's problem solvers."

Two finishers in the top ten - both from Long Island, NY -- had space-related projects. Aron Corar of Huntington provided an explanation for why a mineral exists in different forms on the moon; John Anthony Clarke of Syosset researched X-ray emissions from Jupiter.

"We at Intel celebrate the work of these brilliant young scientists as a way to inspire the next generation to follow them with even greater energy and excitement into a life of invention and discovery," executive director of the Intel Foundation Wendy Hawkins said in a press release. "Imagine the new technologies, solutions and devices they will bring to bear on the challenges we face. The Intel Science Talent Search finalists should inspire all of us with hope for the future."

To which college will Chen bring his abilities? No word yet, however, he has been working professors from the University of California, San Diego to conduct his research, according to the Carmel Valley Times.