Fourteen students have won $2,000 National Merit Scholarships after meeting rigorous academic standards and other criteria. The local scholars are among 50 winners from Maryland. Only 2,500 winners nationally were selected from about 15,000 finalists in the 2000 Merit Program, sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

Listed by school, school system winners and intended career fields are:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School: Carleton P. Goold, neurobiological research; Sara E. Mixter, pediatrics

Montgomery Blair High School: Charitha Gowda, biochemistry; Susan J. Huang,, biomedical research; Anne E. Lee, medicine/neuroscience; Jason B. Rubenstein, mathematics; Ashutosh Sahu, biology

Winston Churchill High School: Mark L. Choa-Sabol, psychology; Daniel Wang, medicine

Richard Montgomery High School: Daniel M. Prager, economics; Alexandre Rostovtsev, physics; Rachel A. Zurer, international relations

Rockville High School: Matthew P. Para, mechanical engineering/computer science

Walt Whitman High School: Michael S. Dworsky, writing/consulting/policy analysis

The scholars are all high school seniors selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors who evaluated each finalist's academic record, test scores, contributions to school and community, interests and goals, and recommendations from school officials.

The finalists were selected from about 16,000 semifinalists announced last fall. Montgomery County Public Schools has 107 semifinalists in the program.

The latest announcement brings the number of this year's Merit scholars from the school system to 21, which includes seven previously announced winners of corporate-sponsored awards. On May 31 and in late July, the NMSC will announce the winners of Merit Scholarships sponsored by colleges and universities.