2020 STEM Colloquium & US Science Fair
2020 STEM Colloquium
Dr. Tom Castonguay, Chair of Science Department and Director of STEM, introduces the 2020 STEM Colloquium, which honors students for their passion, determination, talent, and achievement in STEM related disciplines. Congratulations to Harry Amadeo for earning a STEM Distinction; you can learn about Harry's research in his presentation below.
2020 Upper School Science Fair
The Fourth Annual US Science Fair took place (virtually) in May. Dr. Victoria Schulman, Science Faculty and Director of Science Research, introduces the Fair and announces the winners. She comments, “This year was an unusually interesting year and I am really proud of all the students who participated for being able to adapt quickly when changes occurred." The competition invited judges hailing from prestigious institutions both near and far, including Yale University, Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Veterans Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. These professional researchers were overly impressed with the level of detail and precision our Upper School students displayed while completing original science investigations."
Please click on the names the presentations to see the projects presented by the science fair participants.
Upper School Science Fair Winners
"Best-In-Fair" Overall Winner Is Giovanna Armetta, Grade 10: UV Light, Ozone and Baking Soda are Effective Ways of Killing Bacteria
Grade 9
Top Proposal—The Addition of Crumb Rubber into Concrete Increases Shock Absorption and Decreases Strength by Ava Gillespie
Completed Projects:
1st Place – The Bread Chamber is the Most Effective Method to Prevent Staleness in Bread by Leo Berardi & Bryce Heaton
2nd Place – The Most Effective Angle to Set the External Reflector of a Box Type Solar Cooker is 30o by Ben Persily
3rd Place – Iodine-Releasing Water Purification Tables Most Effective at Reducing the Number of Coliform Bacterial Colonies in Unfiltered Water by Gouri Krishnan
Grade 10
Top Proposal—Effect of Cryo-Chamber Therapy on Cold Shock Protein Type A Levels in Skeletal Muscle Samples by Karina Rao
Completed Projects:
1st Place – UV Light, Ozone and Baking Soda are Effective Ways of Killing Bacteria by Giovanna Armetta
2nd Place – GPA Tends to Increase as Course Rigor Increases by Maddie Bramel & Cassandra Jean-Baptiste
3rd Place – Noise Reduction and Altered Contrast Have a Slight Effect on Accuracy of Convolutional Neural Networks by John Russell & Beckett Walters
GradeS 11 & 12
Top Proposal—Coffee, Carbon, & Climate: Sustainability in the Coffee Industry by Samantha Berman & Sophie Pigott
Completed Projects:
1st Place – Brains vs. Brawns: A Study on the Impact of Athletics on Academics by Harrison Feinberg & Conor Newman
2nd Place – Are Overpriced Baseball and Softball Bats Worth the Money? by Jack Czaja & Zoe Tinnesz
3rd Place – The Unexpected Dangers of Flying by Thomas Mandel-Mantello
ASPIRE
Top ASPIRE Project/ASPIRE Winner—Renal Cell Carcinoma can be Accurately Subtyped Using Convolutional Neural Networks by Ryan Heaton
ASPIRE-ing Scientist Award—Treatment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma with Feraheme Nanoparticles by Wafa Nomani