SCIENCE RESEARCH AT COLUMBIA HS

Ms. Taylor

Ms. Strauss

Ms. Gleason

Congratulations to our very own Claudette Maritn, a sophomore in SR.  She was selected as this week’s “Kid of the Week” by Capital News 9 for her work with training service dogs.  Claudette plans to utilize these dogs in her research that will concentrate on Pet-Assisted Therapy and its impact on residents in nursing homes.  Channel News 9 stated, “She is being honored for her excellent work at the Empire Service Dog Program.  Claudette has been involved in the program for two years spending at least one day a week training service dogs. The program's president said her gentle way with the dogs represents the Empire Service Dog Program in a very positive way.”  Claudette should be commended for work not only in terms of research but also in terms of service to her community.

Congratulations to Whitney Hulick who won the U.S. Army Award for her poster presentation of her research at the Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair on March 15th.  Whitney’s research was conducted at Wadsworth Center in collaboration with Dr. William Shain.  She has spent over 500 hours investigating “Neuron Distribution Around Inserted Microfabricated Neural Prosthetic Devices.”  During the course of her research, Whitney revealed a new antibody and optimized the protocols to use this new antibody, allowing a more in-depth look at the reactive responses around neuroprosthetic devices.  Her research has made a significant contribution towards using these neural prosthetic devices, which hold tremendous potential for treating diseases such as Tourette’s and Parkinson’s. 

Congratulations to Seniors Lauren Hannmann, Alison O’Brien and Nicholas Scaptura and their teacher Ms Taylor.These seniors presented  the culmination of their research at the Eastern Section of the Junior Science and Humanities Regional Symposium on Saturday February 2nd , 2008.  This competition had 14 schools from six different counties represented.  All three students presented their research in twelve-minute competition style PowerPoint’s followed by a five-minute question and answer period with the judges.  Judges commented that these students had very professional presentations and were clearly well versed in their subject matter.

Alison found a void in preexisting research between ideal appearance goal weights and ideal athletic performance goal weights.  She developed her six-part survey under the guidance of Dr. Drew Anderson, presented and had it approved by the Internal Review Board of the State University of New York @Albany.  Paired sample T tests did reveal a significant difference and next she will be looking at the relationship of gender in her study.  Alison has also presented her findings at professional meetings.  Alison’s project is titled “Body image and Shape Ideals in Runners.”

Lauren completed two distinct research projects during her Science Research experience.  “Evaluation of Material Property Variations in Freezecast Ceramics” conducted at Blasch Precision Ceramics.  The purpose of Laurens study was to find the optimal conditions, specifically firing temperatures and the relationship between distinctive properties like open porosity and break load.  Simplified the results showed that higher firing temperatures did correlate to an increase in break load as well as open porosity.  These results have practical applications in future manufacturing applications and specific performance requirements for individual freezecast ceramics.

Nick has been working for the past three years under Dr. Peter Persans of the RPI Physics department.  “Photoexcitation Effects in Lead Sulfide Quantum Dots” shows that previous research on Quantum Dots is perhaps incomplete.  Nick completed hundreds of hours of both Photoluminescence and photomodulation research and found that the lifetime does seem to be affected by temperature.  This is opposed to previous research and as further research is required for conclusive findings, there is now strong evidence to support a potential trap state, which is susceptible to thermal effects.  This research has practical applications in the development of very cost effective Solar Cells as well as in Quantum Computing.  Nick finished with High Honor in his session and will be presenting his research in poster format at the State finals on March 31st.

All of these students will be competing next at the Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair (an Intel selection fair) held at RPI on March 15th, 2008.

Science Research students are busy preparting for upcoming competitions...

• Ms Taylor’s students are awaiting notification to see if their research was accepted to the Eastern section of Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Ballston Spa on February 2nd (Alison O’Brien, Nick Scaptura and Lauren Hannmann). Finalists will go on to compete at the state level in March.
• Seniors Nick Scaptura and Lauren Hannmann submitted Intel Talent Search Essays as well as Siemens papers.
• Senior Alison O’Brien also submitted a paper to the  Intel Talent Search.
• Alison O’Brien, Nick Scaptura and Lauren Hannmann, Whitney Hulick, and Ida Lin are preparing poster presentations for the Greater Capital District Science and Engineering Fair to be held at RPI on March 15th.  Good luck to all particpants!
• Ms Taylor’s students are all submitting papers to the  Dupont Challenge Essay Contest, and have also been working for the last month in groups to submit projects to the Toshiba Exploravision. (This is the first year that science research students have entered the Exploravision competition.)
• Sophomore Jeff Knox is competing in the DNA day essay contest. Jeff has already started his research at the Genysis Center under Dr Scott Tenenbaum.

All students should be commended for their dedication to the program, their hard work and their strive for excellence in the scientific community!

Below is a summary of what Columbia High school students have compiled since 1999:

• Science research is a 3-year program designed to provide students with an understanding of research methodology in both the natural and social sciences.
• The Columbia High School course promotes excellence into advanced areas of research.  Students gain practical, laboratory experience with bench skills that are unheard of in their peer group.
• Students have been able to have some truly remarkable experiences, comparable to a third year medical student’s research rotation.  Student’s skill sets include but are not limited to:  PCR, RT PCR, DNA splicing, gel electrophoresis, GFP tagging, animal and transgenic animal handling, surgical, staining techniques, electron microscopy.
• Students are afforded the opportunity to work in world renowned research instituitions like:

NIH Bethesda, Woods Hole, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard, Albany Medical Center, RPI (Jet Propulsion Lab), NYS Department of Health Wadsworth, Bioterrorism Lab, Axelrod, Cornell Lab of Ornithology , Center for Functional Genomics, Gen*NY*sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics.

• When world statistics say that American students are lagging behind in Math and Science Columbia Students participating in this program are far exceeding national standards, and are moving on to advanced degrees in Science and Engineering.
• Students from the program have attended the following universities, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Reed, Olin, University of Rochester, University of Delaware, Binghamton, Geneseo, and Wesleyan.  Many have been selected for highly competitive honors programs, and 6-year physician programs.
• They have received a variety of scholarships including multiple presidential research scholarships.  Some have received full ride scholarships including travel and spending money stipends.
• Many students have been professionally published, in renowned journals like Nature, Biology Bulletin, Discover, Journal of Pathology, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and one of there pictures selected for the Journals cover, an Editor’s Choice in Science
• Students have presented their research to professional organizations;  Association of the Advancement of Behavior therapy, AIAA  (American Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics), American Society of Microbiology, SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineering)
• Students compete in a variety of National Science competitions.  Siemens, Intel Talent Search, Brain Bee, Junior Science and Humanities Symposium,  Greater Capital District Science and Engineering Fair (which is the regional to the International Intel Science and Engineering fair)
• Since 1999, Columbia students have received the following:
1. 2 first place finishes in the regional Brain Bee, both students attended the International Brain Bee, one student finished 5th overall, out of over 160 international participants.
2. Albert Hessberg Award winner, entrance into Advanced Astronomy Camp.  This student is now completing there PhD in Astrophysics.
3.  5  First place finished in Eastern Section sub regional JSHS, 4  Second place finishes, 6 Third place finishes.

4. 3 Second place finishes at NYS Junior Science and Humanities
5. 1 First place finish at NYS Junior Science and Humanities Poster Competition
6. 3 First place finishes at the Greater Capitol District Science and Engineering fair
7. 4 RPI Medals, $50,000 scholarship given out at the GCDSEF
8. Multiple Naval, Army and Air Force  Science Awards
9. Siemens Semi-finalist and Regional Finalist
10. Intel Talent Search Semi-finalist
11. Over 15 Presidential Research Scholarships awarded.
12. 5 Full tuition scholarships accepted.
13. Multiple NYS Science Congress Invitations, with 3 top placements.
14. A  DuPont Essay Contest finalist, a top 50 finish out of over 4,000.
15. A Finalist in the Young Naturalist Awards.
16. Several Young Epidemiologist winners.
17. Several Yale Science Awards, Ricon Sustainable Development Award, Nuclear Society Award.