THE STUDENT-RESEARCHER FINALISTS FROM THE 
11^TH ANNUAL PROGENICS – REGENERON – ACORDA: WESTCHESTER/PUTNAM SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR
COMPETE AND WIN TOP AWARDS AT THE INTEL INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR

THE TOP 1,500 STUDENTS FROM OVER 50 COUNTRIES

On Saturday, March 13, 2010 in the Sleepy Hollow High School Gymnasium over 250 students from 30 area high schools in Westchester and Putnam Counties gathered to present their extensive research projects at the 10th annual Progenics – Regeneron – Acorda Westchester Science and Engineering Fair.  Students showcased their accomplishments in a competitive venue featuring individual and team poster/interview style presentations and were judged by local experts in the fields of science, math, environmental studies, psychology and engineering.

Thanks to generous donations by Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Acorda Therapeutics, the top 8 individual projects and 4 team projects from WESEF, won an all expense paid trip to compete in Los Angeles, California at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the “superbowl” of science fairs, (http://www.societyforscience.org/isef).  This is the larger and more global of the two Intel sponsored events (the other being the Intel Science Talent Search). At the Intel ISEF, more than 1,500 high school student, science fair winners, from over 50 countries competed for $4 million in prizes and scholarships.

The WESEF finalists (listed below) won more than $50,000 in cash and scholarships at ISEF….

Liza Strauss of Mamaroneck High School won 1^st place American Psychological Association Award ($1250.00) and the 1^st place US Air Force Award of $3000.00 for her study of cognitive neuroscience on arithmetic combinatorial processing using MEG.

Jayanth Krishnan of Mahopac High School placed 3^rd in Engineering ($1000.00) and won the National Antivivisection Society Award and the European Organization for Nuclear Research-CERN Award including a trip to CERN Switzerland for his research on regulatory signatures of cancer cell lines inferred from gene expression data.

Joy Li of Briarcliff High School took 3^rd place in Medicine and Health ($1000.00) for her study on predicting outcomes of heart failure patients after mechanical circulatory support device implantation.

Tyler St. Dennis of John Jay High School took 3^rd place in Microbiology ($1000.00), won the 1^st place U.S. Air Force Award ($2000.00), National Collegiate Inventers and Innovators Alliance Award ($1000.00)  and the Patent and Trademark Office Society Award ($150.00) for his research on bacterial heat shock response to photodynamic therapy.

Kyle Bardwell of Ossining High School took 1^st place in Animal Science ($3000.00) for studying the human impact on screech owl populations.

Evan Olin and Catherine Conte of Ossining High School won 2^nd place in Behavioral Science ($1500.00) for their work on tibial shock as one transitions from shod to barefoot running.

Katherine Mangialardi of Ossining High School won 3^rd place in Behavioral Science ($1000.00) and a $60,000.00 Scholarship to the Florida Institute of Technology for her work studying altruism in adolescents.

Matthew McIntyre of Yorktown High School won 2^nd place in Microbiology ($1500.00) and the U.S. Army Award including a $4000.00 scholarship and a trip to London, England for his work on a possible solution to the worldwide malaria epidemic by  identifying the genetics of the parasite that causes malaria like diseases that could be targeted by future pharmaceuticals

Michael Cerabona of Yorktown High School won 4^th place in Engineering ($500.00) and the GE Energy Award ($1000.00) for his work in creating a solar cell tracking device that uses a shape memory alloy known as “Muscle Wire” to guide a solar panel to follow the path of the sun.

Gabriel Weissman of Horace Greeley High School and Priya Mohindra of Yorktown High School won 4^th place in Biochemistry ($500.00) for their project on early detection of breast cancer by finding a better way to bind a cancer detection chemical to early stage breast cancer cells.

Sara Albala of John Jay High School won the American Statistical Association Award and the IIT College of Psychology Award ($40,000.00) for her study on the effect of living arrangements and social support on hypertension.

Official Intel ISEF Press Releases

http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/press

For more information contact:

Michael Blueglass WESEF President / Yorktown High School Science Research Director (W) 914-243-0561

(C)914-447-3568 (Fax) 914-248-9658

The Westchester Science & Engineering Fair was held on Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at Sleepy Hollow High School.  In total, nearly 270 student presenters showcased their research achievements.  Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, WESEF was able to award over 150 special awards prizes as well as recognize those student whose research was best overall in their category with 1st – 4th place awards.

A complete list of all student winners is available here.

A Flickr gallery was created for all fair participants who may be interested in seeing photos from the awards session.  It is available here and prints can be ordered through the site if desired.

Additionally, the photo montage created by Mr. Blueglass is now available on youtube

The top 8 individual projects and top 4 team projects have earned an all expenses paid trip to compete in the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair held this year in Los Angeles, California!  To learn more about the WESEF Finalists, click on their names below for a link to their official abstracts. Those student winners are:

Matthew McIntyre – Yorktown High School
Tyler St. Denis – John Jay High School
Jayanth Krishnan – Mahopac High School
Katharine Mangialardi – Ossining High School
Joy Li – Briarcliff High School
Michael Cerabona – Yorktown High School
Liza Strauss – Mamaroneck High School
Kyle Bardwell – Ossining High School
Elyse Blueglass, Morgan Blueglass, Amanda Buonogorio – Somers/ Yorktown High Schools
Evan Olin & Catie Conte – Ossining High School
Asa Jordan & Jenna Behrendt – Ossining High School
Priya Mohindra & Gabriel Weissman – Horrace Greeley High School

Congratulations to all student presenters, the enthusiasm, passion for science and quality of research you presented was applauded by the judges and serves as an inspiration for all.

Click on each finalists name to link to the details of their work in ABSTRACT form. Congratulations again to our WESEF Finalists!

Sarah Albala – John Jay High School

Jay Krishnan – Mahopac High School

Florence Kuhl – Ossining High School

Camila Linneman – Ossining High School

Sean Maiorano – Ossining High School

Matt McIntyre – Yorktown High School

Jacob Miller – Mamaroneck High School

Jovy Paily – Briarcliff High School

Marcela Erazo & Lauren Browne – Fox Lane High School

Laura Hellmich & Dara Illowsky – Ossining High School

Charlotte Kleiman & Alina Lesnovskaya – Ossining High School

Tyler Lipperman, Elyse Blueglass & Morgan Blueglass – Yorktown & Somers High Schools

WESEF 2010 was a huge success, despite the inclement weather – sideways rains and blustery winds.  Nothing can stand in the way of these young scientists – determined to share with the world their findings and discoveries.

Congratulations to all, for you are making a mark on this world, contributing something new with each and every research project.

Many thanks to Mr. Blueglass for putting together the photo montage capturing the events of the day.  The video clip can be accessed via youtube:  WESEF 2010 photo montage

Additional photos from the day are available here: WESEF PHOTO GALLERY

A complete list of all winners are now posted.  Additionally, we hope to additionally share the abstracts of the finalists from Saturday’s event.  Stay tuned!

Congratulations to all students who participated in the 2009 Westchester Science & Engineering Fair. Thanks to the generous support from our sponsors, over 250 awards were given to the young researchers to reward their hard work and comittment to science.

WESEF FINALISTS – Ross Bruck from Fox Lane HS, Elizabeth Cai from Briarcliff HS, Josh Elkind from Yorktown HS, Jennifer Fasman from Mamaroneck HS, Ian Matthews from Irvington HS, Alexander Mendez from Mamaroneck HS, Jack Miller from Mamaroneck HS, Lingzi Ouyang from Ossining HS, Teams: Stepahie Capogna (Yorktown HS) & Tara Bonnano (Sleepy Hollow HS), Kyle McCann & Mohit Tiwari from Yorktown HS, Lauren Browne & Marcela Erazo from Fox Lane HS, and Eugenia Volkova (John Jay HS) & Alexander Saboe (Somers HS).

These students were selected as having the top 8 individual and top 4 team projects from WESEF 2009 and will be traveling to Reno, Nevada in May to the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair where they will compete with over 1500 students from over 50 different countries around the world for over $4 million in prizes and scholarships!