Fifteen MCPS high school seniors have won college or university-sponsored National Merit Scholarships, bringing this year's number of MCPS Merit scholars to 40. They are among 37 winners from Maryland and more than 2,400 winners nationally.

The winners are:

· Montgomery Blair High School: Erica Anderson, University of Maryland, psychology; Lauren Briese, University of Maryland, government service/politics; Srikanth Divi, Johns Hopkins University, biomedical engineering; Julia Leeman, Oberlin College, writing/education (college professor); Padma Rajagopal, University of Chicago, oncology/genetics; Lauren Smith, Northwestern University, medicine; Denis Sosnovtsev, University of Maryland, computer science; Lida You, University of Maryland, environmental science

· Damascus High School: Brian Garvey, University of Maryland, genetic engineering

· Richard Montgomery High School: Leah Anderson, Harvey Mudd College, engineering; Michael Stahly, University of Maryland, mathematics

· Northwest High School: Richard Moss, University of Maryland, engineering

· Walt Whitman High School: Greg Ihrie, University of Maryland, psychiatry

· Thomas S. Wootton High School: Mitchell Lerner, Northwestern University, acting; Sphoorti Umarjee, Johns Hopkins University, medicine

Previously this year, 19 MCPS students won $2,500 awards funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, and six won corporate-sponsored scholarships. Additional winners of college-sponsored Merit scholarships will be announced July 11.