Congratulations to the winners of the 57th National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium! The 57th National JSHS was a 4-day National Symposium held in Albuquerque, NM on April 24-27, 2019. JSHS is a Tri-Service program, supported by the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force, and JSHS is administered by the National Science Teaching Association, the larger professional organization in the world promoting science teaching and learning for all. The top five students from each region—230 high school students in total, 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. At this competition, students were able to network with other top students and distinguished researchers, attend discourses on the latest research, tour STEM labs in New Mexico, and explore the culture of Albuquerque.

1^st Place Oral Presentations:

Earning $12,000 scholarships

Environmental Science

Emily Tianshi, California Southern, The Cambridge School
Biomimicking Torrey Pine Needles: Atmospheric Moisture Harvesting Through Alternating Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic MicroPatterns

Biomedical Science

Hannah Goldenberg, Connecticut, Greenwich High School
Linking Continued Exposure to E-Cigarette Vapor Constituents with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science

Shan Lateef, Washington DC JSHS, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Can Therapeutic Hypothermia Diminish the Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury in Drosophila melanogaster?

Life Science

Aslan Cook, Hawaii, Kamehameha High School
Cancer-inhibiting Diet-derived Alkaloids in Secretions from Dendrobates auratus, the Hawaiʻi Poison Dart Frog

Engineering and Technology

Alyssa Keirn, Intermountain, Rocky Mountain High School
Solar Powered Ozone and UVC-Based Decontaminator

Physical Science

Caitlin R. Kunchur, South Carolina, Dutch Fork High School
Acoustical Reverberation and Speech Intelligibility

Chemistry

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

Mathematics and Computer Science

Eshika Saxena, Washington, Interlake High School
Proactive Lung Cancer Detection from Hidden Gist Signals in CT Scans with Transfer Learning and Neural Networks

 

2^nd Place Oral Presentations:

Earning $8,000 scholarships

Environmental Science

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

Biomedical Science

Megha Joshi, Oregon, South Salem High School
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, Georgia, The Westminster Schools
Early Onset Scoliosis - A Novel Method to Predict Pulmonary Function

Life Science

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

Engineering and Technology

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

Physical Science

Stephanie Yoshida, Hawaii, Punahou School
Probing Stellar Remnant for Planetary Candidate; Analysis of K2 Target 251248385

Chemistry

Rajat Ramesh, Florida, American Heritage School
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

Mathematics and Computer Science

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

 

3^rd Place Oral Presentations:

Earning $4,000 scholarships

Environmental Science

Ishraq A. Haque, South Carolina, Academic Magnet High School
A Novel Approach to Removing Arsenic from Drinking Water for Low-Income Populations in Rural Villages

Biomedical Science

Astha Dalal, Michigan Southeastern, Troy High School
Effectiveness of Radiation Therapy via Tumor Interstitial Fluid Pressure and CD44 Molecule Expression

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science

Alay Rajal Shah, Texas, Shepton High School
Low-Cost Eye Movement Pattern Localization Biomarker for Neurodegenerative Disorders via Machine Learning

Life Science

Rachel Rost, Intermountain, Baker High School
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, Southwest, La Cueva High School
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, Washington DC JSHS, Thomas Jefferson High School
Estimating CO2 Emissions from Large Cities using Low-Cost Sensors, Small Drone Technology and Bayesian Methods

Chemistry

Kevin Yang, Wyoming-Eastern Colorado, Fairview High School
From Greenhouse to Redhouse: Development of an Advanced Film to Promote Photosynthetic Activity and Crop Production

Mathematics and Computer Science

Jeremy Kim, New York-Metro, Hunter College High School
DeepDoctor: A Novel Deep Learning Framework for Effective Multiple Sclerosis Lesion Segmentation

 

1^st Place Poster Presentations

Earning $350 cash award

Environmental Science

Emily Javedan, Florida, Canterbury School

Biomedical Science

Evelyn Bodoni, Wyoming-Eastern Colorado, Cherry Creek High School

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science

Tanya Mehta, Pennsylvania, Parkland High School

Life Science

Anushka Sanyal, California Northern, Homestead High School

Engineering and Technology

Nicole Seman, Virginia, Academies of Loudoun

Physical Science

Sharmi Shah, New Jersey Shore, Colonia High School,

Chemistry

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

Mathematics and Computer Science

Laalitya Acharya, Ohio, William Mason High School

2^nd Place Poster Presentations

Environmental Science

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

Biomedical Science

Lynelle Oygenblik, New Jersey-Rutgers, Freehold High School

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science

Hiba Hussain, Connecticut, Greenwich High School

Life Science

Kayla Livesay, Iowa, Van Buren Community High School

Engineering and Technology

Brendan Crotty, Kansas-Nebraska-Oklahoma, Homeschool

Physical Science

Kevin Yao, Texas, Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science

Chemistry

Anushree Chaudhuri, California Southern, Westview High School

Mathematics and Computer Science

Tiffany Fang, New Jersey Shore, High Technology High School

3^rd Place Poster Presentations

Environmental Science

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

Biomedical Science

Anand Chundi, Wyoming-Eastern Colorado, SkyView Academy

Medicine & Health/Behavioral Science

Jessica Goldstein, New York Long Island, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School

Life Science

Sky Harper, Arizona, Navajo Preparatory School

Engineering and Technology

Garrett Blum, Ohio, University School

Physical Science

Zoe Rutkovsky, New York, Metro, The Packer Collegiate Institute

Chemistry

Rachel Stratton, South Carolina, Hilton Head Preparatory

Mathematics and Computer Science

Naveen Durvasula, Washington DC JSHS, Montgomery Blair High School

Poster Peer Review Award

Rachel Stratton, South Carolina, Hilton Head Preparatory
BPA vs. BPS: An Investigation of Baby Bottles