Winners From Regional Competition Move on to National Finals in
Washington, D.C.
Dominick Rowan (Armonk, N.Y.) Wins Top Individual Honors;
Kimberly
Te and Christine Yoo (Manhasset, N.Y.) Win Top Team Honors
ISELIN, N.J. -- (Business Wire)
Months of research and preparation in science, technology, engineering
and mathematics (STEM) fields paid off for three students named National
Finalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology after
earning top spots in Region Four. Dominick Rowan of Armonk, N.Y.
earned top individual honors and a $3,000 scholarship for research to
detect new exoplanets. A study on engineering a novel approach to
harvesting energy and cleaning up oil spill regions earned Kimberly
Te and Christine Yoo, both of Manhasset, N.Y., the $6,000
shared team scholarship and spots in the finals of the nation’s premier
research competition for high school students.
The students presented their research this weekend to a panel of judges
at Carnegie Mellon University, host of the Region Four Finals. The top
winners are now moving to the final round to present their work at the
National Finals in Washington, D.C., December 4-8, 2015, where $500,000
in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.
The Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation,
is administered by Discovery Education.
“When you meet these young men and women, and come to understand their
knowledge and passion for serving people through science, you can’t help
but feel better about the future,” said David Etzwiler, CEO of the
Siemens Foundation. “Getting to know students who display passion and
determination for taking on real-world problems and who work to find
innovative and attainable solutions is inspiring.”
The Winning Individual for Region Four
Dominick Rowan, a senior from Byram Hills High School in Armonk, N.Y.,
won the individual category and a $3,000 scholarship for his project
entitled, “Determining the Frequency of Jupiter Analogs and the
Announcement of a Jupiter Analog Orbiting HD32963.”
Dominick’s research detected a new Jupiter-like planet and calculated
how many stars host a Jupiter-like planet in the Milky Way galaxy. His
project allows the world to evaluate the commonality of the Solar System.
“Dominick discovered a new planet – only the 20th Jupiter-like planet
that has ever been discovered,” said competition judge Matt Walker,
Assistant Professor in the physics department and the McWilliams Center
for Cosmology at Carnegie Mellon University. “Finding other Jupiters is
important because Jupiter may have helped to make life on Earth
possible, helping to clear out asteroids in the inner solar system.
Ultimately this research gets to the profound question of, 'Are we
alone?'”
Dominick found his passion for exoplanet detection after reading an
article in Scientific American. It was from this that he became
fascinated with other worlds and wanted to explore the topic further.
Looking to the future, Dominick is interested in pursuing a career as a
scientific researcher. He first became interested in science when he
joined his middle school’s Science Olympiad team.
Beyond academics, Dominick plays a variety of instruments, including the
French horn, piano, guitar and bass guitar. He is also a member of his
high school’s track team, running in both the winter and spring seasons.
Dominick’s mentor is Dr. Stefano Meschiari, a W. J. McDonald
Postdoctoral astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Winning Team for Region Four
Kimberly Te and Christine Yoo, both of Manhasset, N.Y., won the team
category and will share a $6,000 scholarship for their project entitled,
“Natural, Cost-Effective Anodes for Optimized Sediment Microbial Fuel
Cells: Engineering a Novel Approach to Harvesting Energy and Cleaning Up
Oil-Polluted Regions.”
The team engineered a device made of natural, sustainable materials that
cleans up oil-polluted areas, and uses the otherwise unusable oil to
generate clean energy to be used to power remote sensors. Kimberly and
Christine had previously studied the biological effects of pollution on
organisms and wanted to focus their research on cleaning up pollutants,
specifically oil. They devised an efficient and cost effective device
that could degrade hydrocarbons, while also producing electricity.
“The creativity of the concept and its potential impact was most
impressive,” said competition judge Shawn Litster, Associate Professor
and the Russell V. Trader Faculty Fellow in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. “The microbes of one of the
fuel cell electrodes extract the energy from the hydrocarbon sediment. A
natural plant-based precursor was identified as a low cost, high
performance anode 3D-structure.”
Kimberly Te, a senior at Manhasset Senior High School in Manhasset,
N.Y., serves as the project team lead. She hopes to help create new
green energy technologies and find ways to sustain the earth. Kimberly
aspires to pursue a career in environmental engineering. She currently
has a patent pending for a sustainable, cost-effective microbial fuel
cell (MFC) designed for energy production and oil spill remediation.
Christine Yoo, a senior at Manhasset Senior High School in Manhasset,
N.Y., has previously been a National Finalist for the Chemistry Olympiad
as well as a finalist for the International Science and Engineering Fair
(ISEF). Christine plays the flute, piccolo, piano and is a member of her
school’s fencing team. She is also a tutor through TASSEL, a program
dedicated to teaching English to Cambodian children.
The team's mentors are Alison Huenger and Peter Guastella, both of whom
are science educators at Manhasset High School.
Regional Finalists
The remaining regional finalists each received a $1,000 scholarship.
Regional Finalists in the individual category were:
-
Edric Chen, The Kew Forest School, Forest Hills, N.Y.
-
Sarah Lee, Syosset High School, Syosset, N.Y.
-
Kameron Sedigh, Kings Park High School, Kings Park, N.Y.
-
Julian Ubriaco, Kings Park High School, Kings Park, N.Y.
Team Regional Finalists were:
-
Jun Yan He, Manhasset Senior High School, Manhasset, N.Y. and Bongseok
Jung, Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, N.Y.
-
Alia Rizvon and Vishal Nyayapathi, Half Hallow Hills High School East,
Dix Hills, N.Y.
-
Kevin Sadhu, Manhasset Senior High School, Manhasset, N.Y. and Arvind
Sridhar, Bellarmine College Prep School, San Jose, Calif.
-
Kunal Shah, Syosset High School, Syosset, N.Y.; Brian Rhee, Half
Hollow Hills High School East, Dix Hills, N.Y. and Roshan Patel, Ward
Melville Senior High School, East Setauket, N.Y.
The Siemens Competition
Launched in 1998, the Siemens Competition is the nation’s premier
science research competition for high school students. Nearly 4,000
students registered for this year’s competition and a total of 1,781
projects were submitted for consideration. 466 students were named
Semifinalists and 97 were named Regional Finalists. The students present
their research in a closed, online forum, and entries are judged at the
regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research
universities which host the regional competitions: Georgia Institute of
Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute
of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Notre Dame and
The University of Texas at Austin.
For news and announcements about the Regional Competitions and the
National Finals, follow us on Twitter @SFoundation
(#SiemensComp) and like us on Facebook at Siemens
Foundation. A live webcast of the National Finalist Awards
Presentation will also be available online at 11 a.m. EST on December 8
at www.siemens-foundation.org.
Interviews, video and photos available by visiting http://siemensusa.synapticdigital.com/US/Siemens-Foundation.
The Siemens Foundation
The Siemens
Foundation has invested more than $90 million in the United
States to advance workforce development and education initiatives in
science, technology, engineering and math. The Foundation’s mission is
inspired by the culture of innovation, research and continuous learning
that is the hallmark of Siemens’ companies. Together, the programs at
the Siemens Foundation are helping close the opportunity gap for young
people in the U.S. when it comes to STEM careers, and igniting and
sustaining today’s STEM workforce and tomorrow’s scientists and
engineers. Follow the Siemens Foundation on Facebook
and Twitter.
Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital
content for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award-winning
digital textbooks, multimedia content, professional development, and the
largest professional learning community of its kind. Serving 3 million
educators and over 30 million students, Discovery Education’s services
are in half of U.S. classrooms, over 40 percent of all primary schools
in the UK, and more than 50 countries. Discovery Education partners with
districts, states and like-minded organizations to captivate students,
empower teachers, and transform classrooms with customized solutions
that increase academic achievement. Discovery Education is powered by
Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one
nonfiction media company in the world. Explore the future of education
at www.discoveryeducation.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151123005966/en/
Contacts:
Siemens Foundation
Elizabeth Cho, 917-622-2413
elizabeth.cho@siemens.com
or
Weber
Shandwick
Michael Zerman, 314-552-6787
mzerman@webershandwick.com
Source: Siemens Foundation
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