The Intel Science Talent Search only picks 40 finalists in the country.

FORBES: A Different Kind of National Signing Day for Academic Over-Achievers

Of the 40 finalists in this year's Intel Science Talent Search, the nation's most prestigious science competition, 35 hail from public schools.

FORBES: Public Choice

Later in the morning, the President will visit with the 2012 Intel Science Talent Search finalists in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

WHITEHOUSE: White House Schedule

All of these innovators were finalists in the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search competition, and all of them are still in high school.

WHITEHOUSE: Our Top Stories

Michelle placed second in the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search competition for an experiment measuring alertness and anxiety among teenagers separated from their cell phones.

FORBES: Moneyball, Immigration, and the Search for Hidden Advantage

And when she learned that she was a semifinalist for the Intel Science Talent Search, when she found this out her family was living in a homeless shelter.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Speaks at White House Science Fair

At the premier academic contest the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search, I found through interviews that 70 percent of the high school student finalists in the competition were the children of immigrants.

FORBES: Moneyball, Immigration, and the Search for Hidden Advantage

While only 12 percent of the U.S. population is foreign-born, 70 percent of the finalists in the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search competition were the children of immigrants, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis.

FORBES: Children of Immigrants Poised to Be Key Members of Next Generation in Science