May 1, 2008
Westchester Science and Engineering Fair
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Eight students receive awards at science fair
For a slideshow of all eight award winners, click here.
From astronomy to physics, biology to computer science, the students in John Jay High School’s science research program are doing college and graduate-level science. Last month, eight seniors from the program attended the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair, each bringing home medals for their projects, with one — finalist Dan Barson — set to go on to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair May 11-17 in Atlanta, Ga., where he will compete with more than 1,500 students from around the world.
“It’s supposed to be an extraordinary experience,” Dan told The Ledger. “It’s the premiere opportunity for someone who wants to go into science.”
Neurobiology
In addition to being named a finalist, Dan also received the Psychogenics Pharmaceuticals Neurobiology Award and took home first place in the biochemistry category, for his work on nervous system repair.
For his project, Dan looked at ways to overcome the effects of myelin, which inhibits the growth and repair of neurons in the body’s nervous system. One of the components of myelin, known as MAG, prevents the neurons from forming “growth cones,” and thus from regrowing nerves.
To test different treatments, Dan isolated neurons, taken from rats, and treated them with various chemicals to see if any would stop the myelin from inhibiting the neuron growth. One chemical — a naturally occuring protein known as laminin — seemed to have an effect.
“When I started science research, I came in knowing I wanted to do something in neurobiology,” Dan said. “Ever since I was in elementary school, I was always intrigued by the brain, this big mushy thing on the top of my head that does everything.”
Astronomy
The group’s other first place winner was James Fleming, who won first place in the space science category, as well as the U.S. Metric Association Award, for his research into a cataclysmic variable star — a star that changes in brightness significantly over time. The star that James studied, V455 Andromeda, began an “outburst,” or increase in brightness, on Sept. 4. The eruption lasted between two and three months.
“It was a complete surprise” when the star erupted, James said. “I was studying the star in quiescence to determine its regular orbital cycle, and it kind of out of nowhere went into outburst for the first time in recorded history.”
James took advantage of the unexpected event to attempt to classify the star by looking at what kinds of light was emitted during the outburst. He finally determined that it probably fell into a subgroup of stars known as WZ Sagittae, which are known for having 20 to 30 years between outbursts.
Health and sustainability
Although all eight students took home awards at the fair, none won as many as Eliza Mutino, who took home the RICOH Sustainable Energy Award, the U.S. Army Award, the U.S. Army Medal and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Award. Eliza took her research into a relatively new realm of research — sustainability and local eating.
For her project, Eliza researched the short-term health effects of becoming a “locavore,” or someone who only eats food grown within 100 miles. Eliza asked six participants, including friends, teachers and one member of the school wellness committee, to become locavores over the summer. She periodically took blood samples, to look at various health factors.
Over the course of the experiment, Eliza found that many of the participants lost weight — as much as 10 pounds — and in all of them, triglyceride levels dropped by as much as 33 points. Triglycerides are derived from fats in foods, and are one of the factors linked to heart disease.
“It was a challenge, definitely, just logistically organizing it,” Eliza said. “It’s a lot different doing an experiment in the real world, where you can’t control all the variables. Being a high school researcher and doing all this without any backing made it trickier, but definitely made it worthwhile.”
Other projects
The remaining five participants in the fair did not get back to The Ledger before press time. They received the following awards:
Jennifer Goett: Data mining algorithms for the prevention of money laundering — third place in the computer science category and the Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award.
Cella Jones: Measuring the efficiency of thermophotovoltaic devices using ambient light sources — RICOH Sustainable Energy Award, U.S. Army Award, and the Celebration of Excellence in Science Award from Ciba Specialty Chemicals.
Ryan Lett: A statistical and physical analysis of a lacrosse shot for the optimization of accuracy and velocity — third place in the physics category.
Dana Ludmer: The proliferative effect of intermittent UVB radiation on A375 human melanoma cell line — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Award and the Celebration of Excellence in Science Award from Ciba Speciality Chemicals.
Anne Malamet: Perceptions of gay and lesbian television characters — U.S. Army Award.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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