The 20th annual Sub-Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) for Eastern New York took place virtually on Saturday, Feb. 6. Competitors from various New York State high schools presented their research in Behavioral Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, General Biology, Biochemistry, Physical Sciences, Environmental Science and Computational Science.
Lamyaa Hassib, chemistry instructor, and Susan DiFranzo, physics professor, served as judges in the Environmental Science category. Students were judged on presentation skills, originality and creativity in their research, and the research design, methodology, analysis of results and conclusions. Interesting discussions were had regarding the theoretical and practical implications of their work.
Restrictions imposed by the pandemic did not hinder the scientific curiosity of these bright students. With the passion for science as their guide, these young researchers impressed the judges with their work on various topics including: studying the long-term warming and Nitrogen deposition effects on microbial enzyme activity in soil, identifying how different environmental climates may affect serum biochemical profiles for chickens, as well as monitoring polar amplification sites in the artic regions.
The first place recipient from Mahopac High School, presented “The Effect of Temperature, Depth, and Microplastic in Sand on Sea Turtle Hatch and Emergence Success on Southeast Florida Beaches.” The second place recipient from Putnam Valley High School, presented “Aquatic Invasive Species Survey of Lake Mahopac.” Both winners will continue on to compete in the Upstate New York Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in March.
The top five winners at the Upstate NY JSHS will receive scholarships and be invited to the National JSHS in April, where they will compete for additional scholarships.
The principal sponsors of the JSHS are the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force, which view this as an important outreach activity to encourage more students to enter careers in science and technology.
Published: Tue, 09 Feb 2021 13:00:39 +0000 by l.hassib