Top U.S Student Researchers in STEM and Humanities Win Scholarships at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), the premier showcase for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) research by high school students, is pleased to announce the 2019 winners of the 57^th National JSHS competition.

The tri-service—U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force—sponsored competition gives students (grades 9-12) a chance to present original scientific research in a public forum and compete for scholarships and cash awards, while participating in hands-on workshops, panel discussions, career explorations, and research lab visits.

The national winners, announced last Saturday at the awards luncheon and ceremony in Albuquerque, New Mexico, first presented their original scientific research at one of 47 regional competitions hosted by universities and colleges in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Department of Defense (DoD) Schools of Europe and the Pacific Rim. The top five students from each region—230 high school students in total—then participated in oral or poster presentations at the national event. The first and second place regional finalists competed for a chance to earn scholarships ranging from $4,000-$12,000, while the third, fourth, and fifth place regional finalists competed in the poster competition for a chance to win cash awards.

“The National JSHS Competition winners feature some of the country’s brightest young scientists and engineers, who are conducting phenomenal research,” said Karen Offringa, JSHS Project Manager.

1st Place Oral Presentations:
Earning $12,000 scholarships

Environmental Science
Emily Tianshi, The Cambridge School, San Diego, California
Research Title: Biomimicking Torrey Pine Needles: Atmospheric Moisture Harvesting Through
Alternating Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Micro-Patterns

Biomedical Science
Hannah Goldenberg, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut
Research Title: Linking Continued Exposure to E-Cigarette Vapor Constituents with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science
Shan Lateef, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
Research Title: Can Therapeutic Hypothermia Diminish the Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury in Drosophila melanogaster?

Life Science
Aslan Cook, Kamehameha High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
Research Title: Cancer-inhibiting Diet-derived Alkaloids in Secretions from Dendrobates auratus, the Hawaiʻi Poison Dart Frog

Engineering and Technology
Alyssa Keirn, Rocky Mountain High School, Fort Collins, Colorado
Research Title: Solar Powered Ozone and UVC-Based Decontaminator

Physical Science
Caitlin R. Kunchur, Dutch Fork High School, Irmo, South Carolina
Research Title: Acoustical Reverberation and Speech Intelligibility

Chemistry
Anusha Bhattacharyya, Little Rock Central High, Little Rock, Arkansas
Research Title: Novel Nanostructured Metal Powder by Simple Hot Water Treatment: An Economic and Sustainable Oil-Water Separation

Mathematics and Computer Science
Eshika Saxena, Interlake High School, Bellevue, Washington
Research Title: Proactive Lung Cancer Detection from Hidden Gist Signals in CT Scans with Transfer Learning and Neural Networks

2nd Place Oral Presentations:
Earning $8,000 scholarships

Environmental Science
Raina Jain, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut
Research Title: Control of Varroa destructor Infestation with a Dual-function, Thymol-Emitting Honey Bee Hive Entranceway

Biomedical Science
Megha Joshi, South Salem High School, Salem, Oregon
Research Title: Next Generation Intracellular Therapeutic Drug Delivery: A 3-Year Study of Gene Identification using CRISPR/Cas9 and Delivery of Inhibiting of Plasmids via Novel Exosomal Targeting in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science
Ananya L Ganesh, The Westminster Schools, Atlanta, Georgia
Research Title: Early Onset Scoliosis - A Novel Method to Predict Pulmonary Function

Life Science
Tahi Wiggins, Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School, Warsaw, Virginia
Research Title: The Eelgrass Microbiome: A Study of Microbial Development in Restored Zostera marina

Engineering and Technology
Axel Toro, Dr. Carlos González High School, Aguada, Puerto Rico
Research Title: What’s in front of me? Guiding Device for the Visually Impaired using Artificial Intelligence

Physical Science
Stephanie Yoshida, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii
Research Title: Probing Stellar Remnant for Planetary Candidate; Analysis of K2 Target 251248385

Chemistry
Rajat Ramesh, American Heritage School, Plantation, Florida
Genetic Modification of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlorella vulgaris as a Means of Inducing Multicellularity, and Lipid Production in High Throughput Strains for Increased Efficiency in Biofuel Production
Research Title: Inducing Multicellularity, and Lipid Production in High Throughput Strains for Increased Efficiency in Biofuel Production

Mathematics and Computer Science
Raymond Suo, duPont Manual High School, Louisville, Kentucky
Research Title: Developing a 3D Modeling Application Based on a Bezier Surface Reconstruction Algorithm for the Rebuilding of Natural Disaster and War Damaged Areas

3rd Place Oral Presentations:
Earning $4,000 scholarships

Environmental Science
Ishraq A. Haque, Academic Magnet High School, North Charleston, South Carolina
Research Title: A Novel Approach to Removing Arsenic from Drinking Water for Low-Income Populations in Rural Villages

Biomedical Science
Astha Dalal, Troy High School, Troy, Michigan
Research Title: Effectiveness of Radiation Therapy via Tumor Interstitial Fluid Pressure and CD44 Molecule Expression

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science
Alay Rajal Shah, Shepton High School, Plano, Texas
Research Title: Low-Cost Eye Movement Pattern Localization Biomarker for Neurodegenerative Disorders via Machine Learning

Life Science
Rachel Rost, Baker High School, Baker, Montana
Research Title: Effect of Iron Treatments on the Bacteria Mycobacterium smegmatis and Escherichia coli and the Role of Escherichia coli FhuA Iron Uptake Receptor on Phage Infections

Engineering and Technology
Milidu Jayaweera, La Cueva High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Research Title: A Game of Jamming: A Multi-Agent Game-Theoretic Learning Based Cognitive Anti-Jamming Communication System to Combat an AI Jammer

Physical Science
Siona Prasad, Thomas Jefferson High School, Alexandria, Virginia
Research Title: Estimating CO2 Emissions from Large Cities using Low-Cost Sensors, Small Drone Technology and Bayesian Methods

Chemistry
Kevin Yang, Fairview High School, Boulder , Colorado
Research Title: From Greenhouse to Redhouse: Development of an Advanced Film to Promote Photosynthetic Activity and Crop Production

Mathematics and Computer Science
Jeremy Kim, Hunter College High School, New York, New York
Research Title: DeepDoctor: A Novel Deep Learning Framework for Effective Multiple Sclerosis Lesion Segmentation

1st Place Poster Presentations
Earning $350 cash award

Environmental Science
Emily Javedan, Canterbury School, Fort Myers, Florida

Biomedical Science
Evelyn Bodoni, Cherry Creek High School, Greenwood Village, Colorado

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science
Tanya Mehta, Parkland High School, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Life Science
Anushka Sanyal, Homestead High School, Cupertino, California

Engineering and Technology
Nicole Seman, Academies of Loudoun, Leesburg, Virginia

Physical Science
Sharmi Shah, Colonia High School, Colonia, New Jersey

Chemistry
Helena Jiang, F. W. Buchholz High School, Gainesville, Florida

Mathematics and Computer Science
Laalitya Acharya, William Mason High School, Mason, Ohio

2nd Place Poster Presentations

Environmental Science
Min-Hua (Cindy) Tsou, Mililani High School, Mililani, Hawaii

Biomedical Science
Lynelle Oygenblik, Freehold High School, Freehold, New Jersey

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science
Hiba Hussain, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut

Life Science
Kayla Livesay, Van Buren Community High School, Mount Sterling, Iowa

Engineering and Technology
Brendan Crotty, Homeschool, Muskogee, Oklahoma

Physical Science
Kevin Yao, Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science, Denton, Texas

Chemistry
Anushree Chaudhuri, Westview High School, San Diego, California

Mathematics and Computer Science
Tiffany Fang, High Technology High School, Lincroft, New Jersey

3rd Place Poster Presentations

Environmental Science
Daniel Murray, Central Virginia Governor’s School for Science & Technology and Jefferson Forest High School, Lynchburg, Virginia

Biomedical Science
Anand Chundi, SkyView Academy, Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science
Jessica Goldstein, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview, New York

Life Science
Sky Harper, Navajo Preparatory School, Farmington, New Mexico

Engineering and Technology
Garrett Blum, University School, Hunting Valley, Ohio

Physical Science
Zoe Rutkovsky, The Packer Collegiate Institute, New York, New York

Chemistry
Rachel Stratton, Hilton Head Preparatory, Hilton Head, South Carolina

Mathematics and Computer Science
Naveen Durvasula, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland

Poster Peer Review Award
Rachel Stratton, Hilton Head Preparatory, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Research Title: BPA vs. BPS: An Investigation of Baby Bottles

During the four-day event, administered by the National Science Teachers Association, students also participated in interactive activities to enrich their JSHS experience and to engage with DoD researchers, laboratories, and related STEM organizations and professionals. Approximately 130 high school teachers, mentors, university faculty, ranking military guests and others also attended.

For more information about the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), visit https://www.jshs.org/.

About JSHS

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) is a tri-service program founded by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force to encourage high school students to conduct original research in STEM fields. In cooperation with higher education, program sponsors include the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology); Office of Naval Research, Arlington, VA; and Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Washington, DC. JSHS is administered by the National Science Teachers Association, the larger professional organization in the world promoting science teaching and learning for all.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005142/en/